Apple, long accused of bypassing its own rules, is seemingly relentless and is changing its iOS policy in a way that will make iPhones more like Android phones.
In a March 4 update to its App Store review guidelines, the company adjusted language for push notifications, so apps can use push notifications for “promotions or direct marketing” “, which was once verboten in iOS. Unless you were Apple, which promoted its own carpool karaoke show via push notifications.
Our own employees have noted that these application push notification ads have been happening on Android for years. On the official Android developer site, a page titled “Stimulate user engagement and increase the visibility of your application with notifications” is classified under Engage, Design and Marketing.
The only caveats are that customers must have “explicitly accepted” these notifications and that the application provides “a method … allowing a user to refuse to receive such messages”.
Apple’s existing rule has been bent by developers for a while. As I wrote this story, I noticed that my lock screen had yet another coupon code from the Postmates food delivery app. This change only suggests that the ads on your lock screen will only multiply in the coming months.
And, yes, Apple has this language on how to choose these push notifications, but I don’t know to what extent it will work. People tend to keep pressing OK when they install new apps, which is how you get existing notifications you don’t like, as well as other privacy protection features that are turned off.
