Facebook removes Onavo VPN app from the App Store at the behest of Apple

Apple has requested Facebook to remove its VPN app Onavo Protect from the iTunes App Store. The company has complied. The app gives Facebook, among other things, insight into which apps users have on their phones. That is against the rules according to Apple.

Onavo Protect – VPN Security is no longer available in the download store for iOS devices at the time of writing. The app can still be seen in the iTunes App Store via Google’s cache. Apple held talks with Facebook earlier this month, according to The Wall Street Journal, stating that the app violates the terms of its download store. Apple would not have removed the app itself, but told Facebook to do so.

In a response to The Verge, Facebook says it will follow Apple’s rules that apply to developers. With this, the company seems to confirm that it has removed the app itself. However, Facebook states that it has always been clear to users what information Onavo collects and how it is used.

The free Onavo VPN app has been discredited for some time, because Facebook reportedly uses it to map apps on users’ smartphones. As a result, the social network would have gained insight into the declining number of Snapchat users last year, for example.

Although the app has been removed from the App Store by order of Apple, it is still available for Android in Google’s Play Store. The privacy policy states, among other things, that the app collects information, for example about the device itself. Data can then be shared with third parties.

In March this year, Facebook company Onavo released a new app that collects information about installed apps: Bolt Lock. That app was quickly removed after it came into the media and has never returned, according to Facebook it was a test.