iPhone News Updated

Apple now using automated software to approve iPhone apps

Apple now using automated software to approve iPhone apps

Apple has apparently added a new layer to the iTunes App Store approval process. Now developers will find their iPhone apps passed through a mysterious device called a static analysis tool. So what the dickens does this mean? Bear with us…

Apple gives iTunes App Store developers access to an API (application programming interface) which is a set of tools or calls they can use in their app. They let apps do stuff like access the camera or use the microphone.

However, there are also another set of APIs that the iPhone uses. These private APIs are features that apple uses and which they prefer to keep to themselves. The static analysis tool is simply a new way for Apple to prevent cheeky developers tapping into these private APIs.

Approval for the iTunes App Store has recently been made more transparent but developers are unlikely to be happy about their apps potentially being rejected by an automated system.

Apple’s argument is that using private APIs before they decide to make them public can mean the app or the iPhone OS itself becomes unstable. It’s tapping into private APIs that makes all the exciting features in apps only available for Jailbroken iPhones possible.

Going through iPhone apps more closely could help Apple to prevent security breaches but also mean the end of “happy accidents” like the Elgato 3G streaming loophole.

[Thanks: http://www.mirror.co.uk]