Apple Removes Over 250 Apps from the App Store for Violation of Privacy

Analytical service called SourceDNA usually track and track codes iOS and Android has discovered hundreds of applications in the App Store that were gathering personal information of users.

The data they collect these applications include email addresses and device identifiers, and did so through a Chinese announcement called Youmi SDK, which is banned in statements by use of the App Store.

The more than 250 apps removed from the Apple App Store had more than a million downloads in total, and would not have been detected if it had not been for a new developer tools called Searchlight.

Most developers of these apps are China

Apps that used the announcement Yomvi SDK have been developed, mostly for developers China. According SourceDNA, researchers found that there were four classes of information collected under violation of privacy rights:

1. A list of all installed apps on the iPhone or iPad.

2. The serial number of the platform iPhone or iPad with older versions of iOS.

3. A list of hardware devices using new versions of iOS and the serial numbers of those components.

4. The email address associated with the user ID of Apple.

This personal information was collected via private APIs and then redirected through the Youmi servers in China.

"We have identified a group of apps that are using third-party SDK ads, created by Youmi; a provider of mobile advertising, using private APIs to collect private information. This is a violation of privacy and security as our guides. Youmi apps that use have been removed from the App Store. We are working with developers to help them upgrade versions of their apps to make them safe for our customers and return to the App Store as quickly as possible. "

SourceDNS sent a list of affected applications to Apple, including the official app of McDonald's China, but this list has not been disclosed publicly.