iOS 13 to Limit VoIP API, Eliminate Background Activity
Right now, the calling feature in these apps runs in the background even when it’s not in use, ensuring the apps can connect calls faster but also making it possible for them to perform other, unrelated tasks such as collecting data. Now, Apple is restricting that background access so that it can only be used for internet calls.
Apple’s move will force Facebook to redesign its messaging apps, two people familiar with the issue said. It may have a particularly heavy impact on WhatsApp, which has been using the internet calling feature in a variety of ways, including for implementing the app’s end-to-end encryption, the people said.
[…]
In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said the company was not collecting data through the calling feature.
Michael Potuck (via Ben Sandofsky):
However, Apple’s former App Store review chief, Phillip Shoemaker, shared concerns about how Facebook could have been or still is using the background app access.
[…]
Shoemaker also noted that Facebook tried to keep the PushKit API in its main app when the company split off Messenger as a standalone app in 2014. When Apple caught on, it made Facebook remove the API.
Previously:
“In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said the company was not collecting data through the calling feature.”
If they said so, why shouldn't we trust them ? They never lie in the past, isn't it ?