Skip to Content
Silicon Valley

Apple has booted apps from its store that let parents monitor screen time

April 29, 2019
Apple CEO Tim Cook presents the company's screen time app on stage
Apple CEO Tim Cook presents the company's screen time app on stageAssociated Press

Apple has removed or restricted at least 11 of the 17 most downloaded screen time and parental control apps over the last year, according to the New York Times and app data firm Sensor Tower.

What’s happened: Since Apple created its own screen time tracking app, it’s been systematically removing apps offering similar services from its App Store, or forcing them to remove features that let parents control their kids’ devices. 

Competing claims: It looks like Apple is using its powerful role as gatekeeper to restrict its competitors. However, the company claims it’s “a matter of security.” Specifically, it says they were removed because they were using a “highly invasive” technology called mobile device management (MDM). MDM lets third parties control a device. It’s common for businesses to install MDM on enterprise devices, but Apple says it’s “incredibly risky” for private firms to install MDM on a customer’s device, and that the practice violates their policies. It can provide hackers with a route into devices.

Timing: Apple strongly denies that its behavior is anti-competitive, and says the timing of its decisions wasn’t related to the fact it introduced similar tools. Without access to Apple’s internal decision-making, it’s difficult for us to be certain about what’s really going on.

We will learn more thanks to a complaint filed by two parental control apps, Kidslox and Qustodio with the European Union’s competition office last week. Either way, it’s a timely reminder how much power the company has over the fortune of others, just as politicians in the US are starting to mull whether to break up and/or regulate big tech firms.

Sign up here to get your dose of the latest must-read news from the world of emerging tech in our daily newsletter The Download.

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why.

And that's a problem. Figuring it out is one of the biggest scientific puzzles of our time and a crucial step towards controlling more powerful future models.

OpenAI teases an amazing new generative video model called Sora

The firm is sharing Sora with a small group of safety testers but the rest of us will have to wait to learn more.

Google’s Gemini is now in everything. Here’s how you can try it out.

Gmail, Docs, and more will now come with Gemini baked in. But Europeans will have to wait before they can download the app.

This baby with a head camera helped teach an AI how kids learn language

A neural network trained on the experiences of a single young child managed to learn one of the core components of language: how to match words to the objects they represent.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.