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Kaspersky Lab Files Antitrust Complaint Against Apple Over App Store Policy (macrumors.com)
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab has filed an antitrust complaint against Apple with the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service relating to the company's App Store distribution policy. From a report: Kaspersky's complaint is specifically to do with Apple's removal of the Kaspersky Safe Kids app. In a blog post on the Kaspersky website, the firm says it received notice from Apple last year that the app, which had been in the App Store for three years, did not meet App Store guidelines owing to the use of configuration profiles. Kaspersky was told by Apple that it would need to remove these profiles for the app to pass review and remain in the App Store, but the Russian firm had argued this action essentially crippled the app. "For us, that would mean removing two key features from Kaspersky Safe Kids: app control and Safari browser blocking." The first allows parents to specify which apps kids can't run based on the App Store's age restrictions, while the second allows the hiding of all browsers on the device so that web pages can only be accessed in the Kaspersky Safe Kids app's built-in secure browser.
As a parent I've spent months investigating Apple's built-in settings that provide me with control of the phone while my children learn self-control. What I've found:
1. Reporting of screen time is spotty. I've got 4 boys. 2 of their phones has never (iPhone 7s) reported, 1 occasionally reports (5), and 1 usually reports (6).
2. The time controls are embarassingly easy to circumvent. They routinely exceed the alloted time and occasionally well over.
3. There is no way to force them to wifi when at home where I can filter sites so I've have to rely on Apple's controls (which are already suspect) and have no easy way of log review to know the controls ARE working.