Apple has introduced a few new rules and regulations to its App Store Review Guidelines this week – this time affecting apps for kids and real-money gambling apps. The new rules and regulations are closely linked to the expansion of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Apple’s own upcoming changes to their policies for educational apps. While the new COPPA rules further restrict developers from gaining access to a user’s photographs, video, or audio files, Apple has allowed upcoming apps to ask for a user’s date of birth, in order to adhere to these new privacy measures. Along these lines, an app that does involve the sharing of personal information such as names, addresses, emails, or geographical locations, will first have to “comply with applicable children’s privacy settings” (App Store Review Guidelines 17.4).
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