Apple steps up app security in iOS 6

Apple is one company that throughout the years have build an image of taking security and privacy really seriously - Macs were said to have no viruses, and iOS was said to be extremely safe with its walled app garden. Late last year and in 2012 however this image started breaking with a widespread virus on Macs, and a huge security fiasco with apps after it turned out that Appe is allowing all kinds of applications full access to your contacts and all other private data. Some of the apps like the social network Path chose to use this data and upload it to their servers, and so the ball started rolling with more and more experts pin-pointing all the dangers that were hidden or just went unnoticed in iOS.

Well, with iOS 6, Apple is patching a lot of those holes. The new version of Apple’s mobile operating system will now ask you explicitly to permit an app to access your information. The chnage in app permissions is noted in the “Data Privacy” section of the release note for the new version of the platform.

In iOS 6 users will have to explicitly allow apps to access their location, calendar, contacts, reminders and photo library. What’s more - apps should be prepared to function properly even when a user denies them those permissions.

This is a much needed move by Apple after the embarassingly weak app security controls. Apple was then taken to court over the matter, so this should save Cupertino both some money and contribute to higher overall user satisfaction.