Apple cracks down on iPhone apps that secretly record your screen

Bradley Prior

Bradley Prior

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Apple cracks down on iPhone apps that secretly record your screen

Apple has told developers to request consent from users to record their screen data or remove the offending code from their applications, TechCrunch reports.

An investigation by TechCrunch revealed that many major iOS applications including Expedia, Singapore Airlines, and Hotels.com secretly recorded users' screen activity without asking permission.
 
How does Apple allow/justify apps that does screen recording in the first place, regardless of the intention??? :thumbsdown:
 
UrBaN963 said:
Screen recording is quite useful, I've used it a few times to show somehow how to do something on an iPhone.

However, secretly recording a user's screen? That's not on.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I have no issue when it's user-initiated, but we're not talking about this. How is this justified?
 
Happy Days said:
Agreed. I have no issue when it's user-initiated, but we're not talking about this. How is this justified?
Click to expand...
It isn't justified, that's why they're telling the 3rd-party App devs to get rid of it or request consent. Not sure how this is Apple's fault?
 
UrBaN963 said:
It isn't justified, that's why they're telling the 3rd-party App devs to get rid of it or request consent. Not sure how this is Apple's fault?
Click to expand...
I think he means how is access granted to that module. When I use an app on the iPhone it asks If I grant permission to use mic, camera, etc the first time I use those parts in that app. Considering ios is pretty locked down, it's surprising that apps can initiate screen recording without ios throwing a pop-up asking the user for permission.
 
Nobody Important said:
I think he means how is access granted to that module. When I use an app on the iPhone it asks If I grant permission to use mic, camera, etc the first time I use those parts in that app. Considering ios is pretty locked down, it's surprising that apps can initiate screen recording without ios throwing a pop-up asking the user for permission.
Click to expand...

Yea that makes more sense. It’s a good question.
 
Might be worth knowing: apps can only make screenshots of their own screens. They can not take screenshots of the home screen or any other apps. The api doesn't even make it possible to take screenshots while buzy switching between apps.
 
Beyond.Celsus said:
If this is 'more secure than Android' you can keep it.
Click to expand...

Hold on a moment.

Are you insinuating this isn't happening on Android?

HA HA HAHA H HA HA HA HA H HA HA.

In Android it would be quite likely for an App to record this OUTSIDE of it's own user space, but I would wait for someone more clever than I to confirm that. In iOS land this is only possible in the very app itself.
 
SauRoNZA said:
Hold on a moment.

Are you insinuating this isn't happening on Android?

HA HA HAHA H HA HA HA HA H HA HA.
Click to expand...

Nope. Not in the slightest.
There is always bragging about how 'secure' apple is, however.

Let's not forget how people could listen in on other people using apple's facetime

Hardly anyone commented on that thread.....
 
Beyond.Celsus said:
Nope. Not in the slightest.
There is always bragging about how 'secure' apple is, however.

Let's not forget how people could listen in on other people using apple's facetime

Hardly anyone commented on that thread.....
Click to expand...

That was a bug which is different and also quickly patches which is part of the reason Apple is more secure as they can quickly step in and fix things across the board which isn't possible on Android.

But you might want to see my post above.

The article is wrong and therefore I suspect your assumptions around it are more than likely wrong.
 
UrBaN963 said:
Screen recording is quite useful, I've used it a few times to show somehow how to do something on an iPhone.

However, secretly recording a user's screen? That's not on.
Click to expand...

This is not the same "screen recording" it's a bad use of the word to confuse the issue probably for click bait reasons.

This is analytical data recording of screen input.

VERY VERY different.
 
SauRoNZA said:
That was a bug which is different and also quickly patches which is part of the reason Apple is more secure as they can quickly step in and fix things across the board which isn't possible on Android.

But you might want to see my post above.

The article is wrong and therefore I suspect your assumptions around it are more than likely wrong.
Click to expand...

Didn't bother to check up on it so, yes, my assumptions are probably wrong

I will say this though


A user found the fault with apple facetime...... not apple.


'Edited, cause I may have read the article wrong about who exactly found the bug'
 
Seems that screenshots can in fact be captured by Glassbox SDK not just gesture and touch data so I was a bit off there.

But no full blown video recording.

It is however meant to mask any personal/sensitive data but that appears to be a bit hit and miss.
 
SauRoNZA said:
This is not the same "screen recording" it's a bad use of the word to confuse the issue probably for click bait reasons.

This is analytical data recording of screen input.

VERY VERY different.
Click to expand...

Your answer confirms the idea I had that this was implemented for analytics purposes. My one and only issue is that the user should be notified that this will be happening and subsequently agree (opt-in) to it. While I fully understand that every move a consumer makes will be analysed, the consumer should have the right to know that this is happening and to what extent. This is something that should be universally applied irrespective of medium.
 
Happy Days said:
Your answer confirms the idea I had that this was implemented for analytics purposes. My one and only issue is that the user should be notified that this will be happening and subsequently agree (opt-in) to it. While I fully understand that every move a consumer makes will be analysed, the consumer should have the right to know that this is happening and to what extent. This is something that should be universally applied irrespective of medium.
Click to expand...

Yup and I believe that's exactly the stance Apple is taking.

They are probably covered by the global setting for sending analytics data to developers at the moment which most people probably enabled when first setting up and forgot about but this would need a bit more finer detail to get more specific.
 
What's really scary is that, for the most part, we've already given away our right to privacy. It's difficult to think of a single mainstream app that doesn't want to access every last detail of your life. And if you don't like, then tough titty. Makes me think there's a market for apps that does what it says it will do, and don't collect and share details (private or otherwise).
 
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