Why You Can’t Find Parental Control Apps on the IOS App Store
iOS: If you’re having trouble finding a good parental control app in the iOS App Store, the reason is MDM or mobile device management. According to Apple, applications that use MDM “incorrectly” pose a significant security risk, so the company is taking tough measures – but what does that really mean?
What is Mobile Device Management?
Mobile device management (MDM) is a general term for any technology that allows you to remotely manage and / or monitor one device over another. IOS parental control apps often rely on MDM as a tool for managing screen time, applying content filters, and collecting usage reports because that’s the only way to get device permission to do so. Otherwise, your regular App Store application will not be able to control your device to the same extent.
This is not some newly introduced technology. MDM has been on iPhones for years, with Apple overseeing MDM certification for its devices and even overseeing all MDM-based activity in iOS apps.
So why is Apple now so concerned about apps not using this feature as intended? The company now claims that apps with MDM can leave your personal data vulnerable and open to hackers, which is why parental control apps are being removed from the App Store.
On paper, this step makes sense. If someone unwilling to do so is tricked into installing a certificate from a lesser-known application, they’ve just handed over the keys to their digital kingdom – a privacy breach that Apple would very much like to prevent.
“MDM is indeed being used for legitimate purposes. Companies sometimes install MDM on corporate devices to better control proprietary data and hardware. But for a consumer-facing private app business, installing MDM on a customer device is incredibly risky and in clear violation of App Store policies. In addition to the control that the application itself can exercise over the user’s device, research has shown that MDM profiles can be used by hackers to gain access for malicious purposes, ”Apple said in a statement released last month .
Developers (trying to) fight back
Several developers of parental control apps now covered by the new MDM policy have responded to Apple’s claims, and their arguments point to some inconsistencies with Apple’s.
One app, OurPact , uses MDM to allow parents to set screen time limits on their children’s devices. OurPact developers released a statement using Apple’s own MDM documentation to refute alleged security risks. You can read the full statement here , but the point of the argument is that since Apple controls the entire MDM verification process for iOS apps, properly verified apps shouldn’t pose any of the risks Apple warns about. Additionally, OurPact has been open about what it does and how it does it:
“The core functionality of OurPact would not have been possible without the use of MDM; it is the only API available for the Apple platform that allows remote control of applications and functions on children’s devices. We have also been transparent about the use of this technology from the outset and have documented its use in our submissions to the App Store, ”the company said in a statement.
Some speculate that the real reason Apple removed these MDM-enabled parental control apps is to curb potential competition with iOS 12’s Screen Time feature. However, other reports indicate that many apps have been removed due to various others. non-MDM violations, such as a ban on creating “an app that looks confusing, similar to an existing Apple product, interface, app, or advertising theme.”
If you ask us, this is all a net loss for Apple customers, despite the security-minded approach to take.
What cleaning Apple means to you
The political controversy between Apple and app developers is one thing, but the biggest concern for iOS users, especially parents, is that parental control and screen time apps are being removed from the App Store.
This would be less of a problem if Apple provided developers with its own API for managing screen time, but it isn’t. More importantly, many of the remote apps like OurPact, Kidslox, and Qustodio included features not found in iOS parental controls, such as filtering web content in browsers other than Safari and cross-compatibility with Android. Their absence leaves fewer options for parents to track their child’s screen time (although there is debate over how effective screen time limits can be).
Hopefully the developer protest and user feedback will get Apple to at least start discussing the future of parental controls in the App Store. For now, however, you can agree to use the parental controls built into iOS 12 . They are not as reliable as compared to competing apps, but they are probably your safest option to block your kids’ activities right now. Soon he may be your only one.