Apple has updated guidelines to ban apps that use its iOS and Mac devices to mine cryptocurrencies. The ban applies to apps that focus solely on mining, but apps like crypto exchanges or crypto wallets are still allowed.
Two sections of the guidelines have been updated, 2.4.2 (Hardware Compatibility) and 3.1.5 (Cryptocurrencies). Specifically, 2.4.2 states that each application should not consume too much battery, not heat the device and not draw too many resources. Applications should not run irrelevant processes in the background, such as cryptocurrency miners. 3.1.5 states that applications should not mine unless the process is running on another device (such as cloud based mining or mining monitors).
The change was made last week and the company stated that it had to make it as hidden cryptocurrency mining is now a very common phenomenon that has been observed since last year in many applications in the store.
Although Mac and iOS users have not been as big targets as Windows users, Apple decided to make this change after a calendar app released in its store last year significantly slowed down the device by running mining processes in the background.
Banning cryptomining on iOS devices is very important as such processes can overheat components, damage batteries, or even cause the device to catch fire. Such scenarios have occurred on Android devices where known malware caused physical damage to infected phones.
