Ones again, Apple, the tech giant is facing further scrutiny over whether it’s using it’s power and influence being the owner of the App Store to hurt it’s competitors’ products. There was a report gotten from the New York Times that states that last year alone, about 11 of the 17 most downloaded third-party apps designed to help iPhone users limit their screen time or oversee their children’s usage of their smartphones were allegedly targeted by the company.
Apple did it by either removing their applications from it’s store outright or just restricting them in a way that the massive audience won’t entirely have access to it if at all.
In contrast, the company itself had introduced it’s own screen-time and parental controls features last June since the unveiling of the iOS 12 which is the most recent and a major upgrade to the iPhones’ mobile operating system.
The Times report says the makers of two of the App Store’s most popular parental control apps filed a complaint Thursday with the European Union’s competition office, with one saying Apple compelled it to alter its app in ways that made it less effective than Apple’s parental controls.
Also Spotify did filed a complaint about Apple with the European Union regulators just last month stating that being the direct rival to the Apple Music had given Apple the motive of stifling Spotify’s own invention which in turn isn’t competitive in any way but Apple called the claim a “misleading” one.
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The iPhone maker didn’t immediately respond to CNET’s request for comment on the Saturday report by the Times, but a spokeswoman for the company told the paper that Apple treats all apps the same, including those from competitors. The apps in question were called out because they could grab too much data from a user’s device, she said, and the timing had nothing to do with the release of Apple’s screen-time and parental controls features.
“Our incentive is to have a vibrant app ecosystem that provides consumers access to as many quality apps as possible,” she told the Times.
