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Apple's App Store Officially Bans Cryptocurrency Mining (venturebeat.com)
Apple has updated the App Store's Review Guidelines to explicitly ban on-device mining across any type of app, and all of Apple's platforms. The new section 3.1.5 (b), titled Cryptocurrencies, provides five clear rules for what will and won't be allowed in macOS, iOS, tvOS, and watchOS apps going forward. VentureBeat reports: The upshot of the new rules is that while Apple will permit cryptocurrencies to exist on its platforms, it's adding requirements to stop scammers and individuals from exploiting App Store customers, while making explicit that it's blocking developers from eating Apple device processing power for mining activities. As AppleInsider notes, the Review Guidelines were previously less concerned with cryptocurrencies, allowing an app to facilitate crypto and ICO transactions if it complied with the laws in the app's distributed territories.
Since the App Store is virtually the only place to acquire software for iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, Apple TVs, and Apple Watches, Apple's decision will effectively end crypto mining on those devices. On macOS, however, users will continue to be able to acquire apps outside of the Mac App Store, enabling mining and other activities to continue without Apple's seal of approval.
Since the App Store is virtually the only place to acquire software for iPhones, iPads, iPod touches, Apple TVs, and Apple Watches, Apple's decision will effectively end crypto mining on those devices. On macOS, however, users will continue to be able to acquire apps outside of the Mac App Store, enabling mining and other activities to continue without Apple's seal of approval.
because mining on your phone or watch was ever viable. fucking 1849ers. didnt learn then. arent learning now.
Make 'murika Greedy Again.
The freedom to run what you want on your own devices
That's not really what is going on here. These are scumbag app developers offering "free" apps that run miners in the background. The user is either not informed, or informed in fine print that nobody reads. The device owners don't even know anything is going on until they notice their phone is unusually hot and the battery is dead.
Huh? This actually concerns your freedom to run what you want on other people's devices.
Which is very likely a freedom that the owners of said devices would prefer that you not have.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Depends on the coin. It's not all that crazy to think a mobile platform as an alternative to ads could pull in enough revenue from mining and selling alt coins to be a viable product.
You can still compile and run cryptocurrency stuff yourself if you want.
As it is prone to, Apple has decided that its customers are too stupid to do this. Yes, some will find a way by compiling code to do it but the inability to do that is not a definition of stupid. This sort of thing plays into the hands of totalitarian governments (EG Chinese, N Korean etc), over protective governments (US, UK etc) and criminal organisations (various TLA's for example)
Alternatively, is this just another case of "we know better than you what you want to do"?
Or maybe the reason is just what it says in the summary, that Apple is:
... When it blocked Calendar 2 in March, Apple cited section 2.4.2 of its Review Guidelines, noting that a background process to mine currencies in exchange for access to premium features ran afoul of its device resource drain restrictions ... Design your app to use power efficiently. Apps should not rapidly drain battery, generate excessive heat, or put unnecessary strain on device resources. Apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining.".
... Occam's razor and TFA , or, the angry conspiracy theorist? ... I think I'll pick the former until somebody actually presents irrefutable proof of this grand conspiracy on the part of Apple to destroy democracy and propagate dictatorship and totalitarian government throughout the world.
"blocking developers from eating Apple device processing power for mining activities
So who should one go with here?
Nearly 5 years ago, there was a plugin for Unity (game engine) to mine Bitcoin. Not sure if it was ever deployed, but your device was already running something intensive, so the miner would be hidden among the normal execution of the game anyways.
I think this was basically just prior to the bitcoin mania. Not sure if it ever left beta, but I do recall there being an extremely negative reaction to the article.
It's my device, I should be able to run whatever I want.
So what is stopping you? Just because Apple isn't cooperating with you is irrelevant. As you said it's your hardware so wipe off iOS and put whatever idiotic mining software or malware you want on it. Hell, run Android on an iPhone if you want.
That's why I prefer Android.
A distinction without a difference. If you like Android better that's fine but it doesn't change the fact that you own the hardware and you can compile and run whatever software you want on it. If you want to argue that Apple should cooperate with you running whatever software you want, then you have an argument. It's a walled garden with all that entails. But if your argument is that you should be allowed to run whatever software you want then your argument is moot because you already have that right. The flipside is that Apple is not and should not be under any obligation to cooperate with you if they don't think it is in their interest to do so.
But if they had let Electroneum in they'd have to let them all into the store or they'd be picking winners and losers, so I guess it had to be all or none.
That's kind of the point. Most of the activity surrounding cryptocurrency mining is nothing more than transparent get rich quick scams. There also is quite a lot of organized criminal activity surrounding them including bitcoin. While there is undoubtedly some amount of honest activity, there is no practical way for Apple to determine who is "honest" and who isn't. Allowing such software also would tend to make their devices perform like shit and Apple would of course get blamed for this. Apple isn't stupid so it makes sense to ban all mining software because there is no upside for them nor for virtually any of their users.
If you want to do this sort of mining on a mobile phone for whatever reason buy some other sort of phone. I assure you nobody will care - Apple least of all.
The headline says the app store has banned cryptocurrency mining. That is still correct, which means you are still wrong.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
As it is prone to, Apple has decided that its customers are too stupid to do this.
How is preventing a bunch of fraudulent scammers from hijacking people's computers in any way a statement that users are "too stupid"? If you want to run mining software knock yourself out. Nothing is preventing you from doing it - you just can't get it through the App Store. Go compile the software yourself if its important to you. Neither Apple nor the vast majority of their customers have anything to gain by permitting this sort of crap in the App Store. You know damn well that these apps would chew up all the performance of the phone and Apple would get blamed for it AND have to clean up the mess. You know damn well that these apps would be disguised as something other than what they actually are - effectively a form of malware.
Alternatively, is this just another case of "we know better than you what you want to do"?
No, it's simply protecting Apple's own interest and the interests of the vast majority of their users. Most of us have little to zero interest in cryptocurrency and even less in the fraud and criminality that tends to surround it. The majority of cryptocurrency activity is nothing but thinly disguised get rich quick scams and pyramid schemes. While there is some honest activity too it's impossible to tell who those parties are reliably and so it's sensible to just prevent such apps from being distributed through the App Store as policy. If you don't like it then don't buy Apple products.
Are (any) fiat-currency and (any) cryptocurrency really equivalent, as cryptocurrency fans claim?
For example, US Dollar and Bitcoin are really equals?
Clearly no they are not equivalent. Anyone who claims otherwise is not dealing in objective facts. That's not to say that cryptocurrencies are in principle intrinsically inferior but in actual practice thus far they definitely are for most legal transactions and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Liquidity, risk, utility as store of value, transaction costs, volatility, inflation, and many more features have wildly different profiles between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. In an honest and objective appraisal cryptocurrencies are inferior in most respects for most people.
Or, could it be really because Bitcoin (and all cryptocurrencies followed it) are actually Ponzi Schemes?
To be fair there is SOME honest usage of cryptocurrencies but you are quite right that most of them are nothing more than thinly disguised get rich quick schemes if not outright fraud. Most of the usage of them is for illegal activity and money laundering and speculation. There certainly is no economic advantage to them over currencies like the dollar as the transaction costs are substantially higher as is the risk. (volatility, exchange rate, counterparty, etc... take your pick - it's very risky compared to the dollar and with risk comes expense)
The most interesting thing about cryptocurrencies has nothing to do with the currency. It's the blockchain technology which has all sorts of far more interesting applications than any cryptocurrency.
The problem is the app store. Apple should not be allowed to be the sole vendor.
Why? Because it bothers you? It's their product and they can do what they want. If you don't like it buy something else. And take your pathetic whining with you. Apple owes you nothing.
By law, they should be forced to support other stores.
I'm thinking you must be trolling because otherwise you are retarded. "By law"? They don't even have a majority of the smartphone market so what would be the point of that? Go buy Android or something else if you don't like it. Nobody is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to buy a single product from Apple. Literally every product they sell is the very definition of discretionary and there are very reasonable competitive options their entire product line.
Running a miner surreptitiously while playing a game which already taxes your machine is just not the right use case. Running a miner on a webpage while you're reading an article instead of showing ads is totally reasonable.