Apple Removes Facebook’s Onavo ‘Security’ App from App Store
Aug. 23, 2018Apple has removed Facebook-owned Onavo security app from the App Store because it reportedly violated its privacy guidelines.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that Facebook will pull a mobile virtual private network (VPN) app calledOnavofrom Apple’s App Store. Later, a CNBC report on late Wednesday said the iPhone maker asked Facebook to voluntarily remove the app as it flouted its privacy rules.
“With the latest update to our guidelines, we made it explicitly clear that apps should not collect information about which other apps are installed on a user’s device for the purposes of analytics or advertising/marketing,” an Apple spokesperson was quoted as saying.
“As a developer on Apple’s platform, we follow the rules they’ve put in place,” Facebook added.
Onavo lets users access a virtual private network, orVPN, to browse the web and download apps with more privacy.
Facebook on Tuesday removed 652 fake accounts for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” that originated in Iran and Russia and targeted people across multiple Internet services in the Middle East, Latin America, Britain and the US.
