Digital Forensics Dispatch

Apple Is Preventing Third Party Coronavirus Applications from Hitting the App Store

March 24, 2020

Exploring your options for creating a new app? There may be a topic you want to avoid. Several developers have mentioned that Apple is now rejecting new apps from hitting the App Store if they are related to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The applications were developed to highlight statistics about which countries have confirmed cases of the new virus. One of the developers reached out to Apple to ask why the app had been rejected and received a statement saying “that anything related to the coronavirus must be released by an official health organization or government.” CNBC says another developer got a written response stating “Apps with information about current medical information need to be submitted by a recognized institution.”

Apple’s restriction seems to be focused on preventing misinformation from unverified sources regarding COVID-19. This serves as a teaching moment that when you are downloading apps from either an iPhone or Android device, it is important to review the app for (1) what information they collect, (2) what permissions they have, and (3) how factual their content is.

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