This is a ban on “unrelated” computation, e.g. app developers putting out free apps with hidden mining code. It’s not otherwise any sort of ban on bitcoin, not that anyone would ever try to mine crypto on iPhones if they actually have to pay for them.
Apple: No currency mining for you in our App Store thank you
Apple has revised its App Store rules to place restrictions on cryptocurrency mining, storage and payment across apps it distributes. The rules change coincides with the company's introduction of beta versions of its forthcoming iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS releases at its annual developer conference. It also comes as Wells …
COMMENTS
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Tuesday 12th June 2018 00:22 GMT Packet
Make sense...
I can see unscrupulous (or at best, misguided) developers slinging in hidden mining code in their apps by making the app free, etc.
Phone battery suffers, users complain, and blame Apple. It's just a mess waiting to happen.
Smart of Apple - will Google do the same?
Just the other day, I got,a browser pop up from these guys https://jsecoin.com asking to use iPad CPU to mine crap (as their alternate option to ads).
To that, I can only say: From hell's heart, I stab at thee
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Tuesday 12th June 2018 13:32 GMT Packet
Re: From hell's heart, I stab at thee
I laud your efforts to look at things in an unbiased way.
I should have clearer in describing the ad network that annoyed me. Said network shows you a prompt that it has opted you you in by default, and only then can you go to a separate site to opt out.
So yes, at least, they give the option - but it's not a 'hey click here to support us, if you can'.
it's a 'we've enabled this shite to stress your system, but just so that we don't get blocked by browsers by default, we're offering you a way out'
Mobile cpu's (particularly older devices) are not as powerful - and such extraneous load is detrimental to their performance.
Secondly, I consider cryptocurrencies are a scam to the nth degree - a 21st century fool's gold, if you will, complete with the cost of effort of 'mining' said things - and a large number of fools who will buy into it and lose money.
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Tuesday 12th June 2018 09:21 GMT Multivac
If you wrote a really popular app, something that the average parent gave to their kids to keep them occupied on a car journey (and then inadvertently got addicted to themselves as keeps happening to my wife), then you slip in some code that uses say 10% of the phones CPU for mining while the app is running, and that's scaled across thousands of users, you can make a bit of token.
I'd expect that's really what this is aimed at.
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Tuesday 12th June 2018 10:58 GMT Anonymous Coward
Makes sense, crypto mining would kill the phone
Makes sense, crypto mining would kill the phone. Good on Apple on addressing this.
Stops developers complaining when they hide bitcoin mining software in their free apps and then the app gets pulled. It is there in their terms.
Would take forever to generate a bitcoin anyway on a phone but may be more profitable over time than ads.