Apple Cracks Down on Cryptocurrency Mining Apps

• Apple is taking down cryptocurrency miners from both is MacOS and iOS stores.
• Cryptocurrency mining apps are known to monetize by making use of user CPU power on both phones and PCs.
• The move by Apple is designed to protect iOS and Mac users from shady apps that exploit users’ hardware and mine cryptocurrency in the background.

Apple is taking down all apps that mine cryptocurrency in the background on MacOS and iOS. Cryptocurrency mining has been the trend on not only legitimate websites but also mobile apps. Apple is putting an end to all apps that have crypto miners built into the apps and will also restrict any iOS and MacOS apps from being published that have miners built into them.

Apple updated its App Store guidelines explicitly stating under the now updated Hardware Compatibility section that iOS and Mac apps that mine cryptocurrency in the background will no longer be allowed on the Apple Store. The update was made by Apple following the massive controversy that involved MacOS’ Calendar 2 users reporting a Monero miner was built into the app even in its paid version that unlocked premium features.

Image Courtesy of Apple

While crypto mining has been around for years, the technology started being abused since 2017 with crypto being the talk of the town. Millions of dollars have been generated by hijacking personal computers to perform mining without notifying users or requesting consent. Such shady practices have made crypto mining of the biggest threats to the average internet user. Such exploitative mining not only hijacks a user’s CPU power but also has adverse effects on battery life in case of Apple devices.

The new guidelines for cryptocurrency under Apple’s App Store Guidelines also state that apps are no longer allowed to strain Apple devices excessively to cause heating issues or battery drainage. However, Apple does not see a problem if miners perform the cryptocurrency mining process anywhere other than the users’ devices. Cloud providers and remote servers can be used by app developers for mining without Apple raising any objections. Wallet apps can continue to operate and offer their services to users under Apple’s new regulations as long as the developer of a wallet app is part of Apple’s Developer Program.