Apple threatened to remove Uber app from App Store over privacy violations

Apple CEO Tim Cook threatened the CEO of Uber to remove that taxi company’s app from the App Store for breaking the store’s tracking rules. Uber reportedly applies geofencing to Apple’s headquarters to avoid detection.

Cook informed Uber CEO Travis Kalanick in 2015 that the tracking had been discovered after all, writes The New York Times. Uber is said to have made the decision in 2014 to apply fingerprinting for its app. The company did this to prevent fraud. In China, in particular, drivers would buy stolen iPhones to accept many rides with newly created Uber accounts and thus earn money without actually carrying passengers.

The lines of fingerprinting code allowed Uber to recognize it if an iPhone was reused, probably through its serial number. Apple’s App Store privacy rules prohibit the use of fingerprinting to ensure users that wiping an iPhone leaves no traces that can be traced back to its previous owner.

To TechCrunch, Uber admits it has changed its practices, but still uses fingerprinting. “We absolutely do not track individual users or their location once they have deleted their app. It’s a way to prevent fraudsters from putting Uber on a stolen smartphone again and again, adding a stolen credit card, accepting an expensive ride and then putting the phone back on.” wipe,” said a spokesperson. Uber could now recognize devices associated with fraud in a different way when creating new accounts.

Uber knew it was initially violating Apple’s fingerprinting rules, according to the NYT. Developers of the taxi service therefore used geofencing to mask the lines of code from Apple: when checking the code within the environment of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, the code in question was not visible. Apple developers in other regions nevertheless discovered the practices and notified Cook.