Google apologizes for violating Apple policy

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testifies during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, December 11, 2018.

Google admitted Wednesday that one of its apps violated the same policies as a Facebook app that landed the social network in hot water with Apple.

Apple revoked Facebook’s enterprise certificates after a TechCrunch report revealed that the company had been secretly distributing a Facebook Research app to members of a program that allowed the firm to collect data on how they used their devices.

Enterprise certificates make it possible for users at a company to install and use apps directly, without going through Apple’s tightly controlled App Store. But Apple’s rules dictate that these kinds of apps can only be used by employees at a company.

Google distributed its app, Screenwise Meter, in the same way. That means Apple could have revoked its enterprise licenses, as it did to Facebook, which could have prevented Google employees from using certain internal apps, including test versions of iPhone apps. Like Facebook’s app, Google’s Screenwise Meter app collected everything participants did on their phones, in exchange for money.