Apple Restores Google's Internal Apps On iOS Devices

Dhir Acharya - Feb 04, 2019

Previously, Apple temporarily blocked Google's internal apps for employees due to a violation of its terms.

This week, Apple temporarily blocked Google’s internal apps used for employees in its iOS devices including iPads and iPhones. The same action was taken by the iPhone maker against Facebook.

Apple made this move due to a report about the Screenwise Meter app from Google. Accordingly, Google launched the app in 2012 and invited users at the age of 18 and higher to earn gift cards provided that they let Google monitor and analyze their information. Apple blocked the app but then restored Google’s Enterprise Certificate, letting the app function again.

A spokeswoman, on behalf of Google, announced the news:

On Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that Google not only sidestepped the App Store but also took advantage of the developer enterprise program that Apple designed to let developers distribute apps internally.

Google responded to the report, saying that it would shut down its Screenwise Meter app on Apple’s devices.

However, that move wasn’t good enough for Apple, the company probably blocked Google’s Enterprise Certificate due to the violation of the terms. By this, whatever apps that Google was letting its employees use internally, even their beta versions, stopped working. Those consist of early versions of Gmail, Hangouts, Google Maps, and apps used in Google’s café and buses.

Apple didn’t comment on restoring the Enterprise Certificate.

Apple’s blocking Google’s internal apps is similar to its penalty on Facebook earlier this week. The social network reportedly used the enterprise developer program of Apple to release a research app to consumers. Facebook was paying a monthly $20 to people of the age from 13 to 35 for collecting information from their phone and Internet activities.

Recently, Facebook and Google are under scrutiny for their privacy practices, due to the data-collecting apps they use. In 2018, Facebook was charged with failing to protect user data in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where the UK consultancy gathered data without users’ permission. Similarly, Google has faced criticism for its collection of location data from Android handsets.