Apple bans cryptocurrency mining on the iPhone and iPad
New developer guidelines released during WWDC set new rules for cryptocurrency apps distributed through both the iOS and Mac App Stores.
Apple has added new language to its App Store review guidelines related to cryptocurrency. Under the Hardware Compatibility section, Apple now states that "apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining."
In addition, an entire section on cryptocurrencies states the following:
In 2013 and 2014, Apple delisted Coinbase and other crypto-related apps from the App Store, citing an unnamed "unresolved issue"; that led to the original set of developer guidelines, and the apps later returned. For a time in 2017, Coinbase was the #1 app available in the App Store.
An app called Calendar 2 was found to be using customer computers to mine the cryptocurrency Monero, in exchange for the user receiving free access to premium features. But a bug caused the miner to run indefinitely. The app was pulled but reinstated days later.
Meanwhile, also earlier in 2018, a scammer stole more than $75,000 in Bitcoin from Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak.
Apple has added new language to its App Store review guidelines related to cryptocurrency. Under the Hardware Compatibility section, Apple now states that "apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining."
In addition, an entire section on cryptocurrencies states the following:
As of late May, per the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, the only mentions of cryptocurrencies in the guidelines were that apps were allowed to facilitate such transactions "provided that they do so in compliance with all state and federal laws for the territories in which the app functions," while the ICO language was nearly identical as well.Apps may facilitate virtual currency storage, provided they are offered by developers enrolled as an organization." In addition, apps may not mine directly for cryptocurrencies, unless the mining is performed in the cloud or otherwise off-device. Apps may "facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered by the exchange itself," although apps facilitating Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") must originate from "established banks, securities firms, futures commission merchants ("FCM"), or other approved financial institutions." And finally, cryptocurrency-related apps "may not offer currency for completing tasks, such as downloading other apps, encouraging other users to download, posting to social networks.
Apple and crypto
Cryptocurrency has interfaced with the App Store in various ways for most of the histories of both. AppleInsider talked about cryptocurrency and the Coinbase app in January.In 2013 and 2014, Apple delisted Coinbase and other crypto-related apps from the App Store, citing an unnamed "unresolved issue"; that led to the original set of developer guidelines, and the apps later returned. For a time in 2017, Coinbase was the #1 app available in the App Store.
An app called Calendar 2 was found to be using customer computers to mine the cryptocurrency Monero, in exchange for the user receiving free access to premium features. But a bug caused the miner to run indefinitely. The app was pulled but reinstated days later.
Meanwhile, also earlier in 2018, a scammer stole more than $75,000 in Bitcoin from Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak.
Comments
You can can use an ad-hoc or an enterprise App to mine to your hearts content, without jailbreaking.
Apple is just saying you can’t distribute it via the App Store. There’s many plausible reasons eg mining is a continual high intensity activity that would suck resources from other apps, drain the battery faster, cause overheating issues etc if running such an App often increased the chance you’d need a battery replacement - odds on, most people would blame Apple.
Given their goal in part is to make the App Store somewhere people can trust to get Apps, that won’t screw with their phones, this decision seems broadly consistent with that. You might be ok with making a trade off in battery life , overheating and usability, but many users are users are not. In addition, mining to pay for using the App is something that is extremely hard for most people to fully weigh the trade offs for.
the last thing is that mining in the CPU is horribly inefficient from a cost perspective, the only way you can possibly make money from it is to get the electricity to do it for free, and from many many CPUs. Ie mining make no economic sense to do it for yourself, but it makes a lot of sense to get many other people to do it for you for free of near free.
Apple made the right call here
What doesn't look good is the article's usage of quotations. The article author needs to get in there and work on that.
disclaimer: I love crypto, but I can see why exploding, or even just less reliable iPhones is something Apple would like to avoid.