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Technical Analysis – Improper Use of Private iOS APIs in Vietnamese Banking Apps

(blog.verichains.io)
88 points quyleanh | 6 comments | 28 Mar 25 07:04 UTC | HN request time: 0.321s | source | bottom
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petesergeant ◴[31 Mar 25 12:35 UTC] No.43534248[source]▶
So, the post author makes software for checking if bad apps are running on the phone, and is complaining that the banks are using their own home-grown system that they say violates Apple’s rules for checking for malicious apps, rather than doing is safely like the software the author sells does.
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1. Onavo ◴[31 Mar 25 13:27 UTC] No.43534814[source]▶
For these sort of large, well connected, or state owned companies in Asia (banks, big local unicorns etc.), Apple has a lot of carve-outs and exceptions (see do-everything apps that contain mini app stores). They have to play nice else they find themselves "under investigation" or worse lose access to the entire market. There's no rule of law for them to litigate over breach of contract.
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2. jjani ◴[31 Mar 25 14:51 UTC] No.43535705[source]▶
> Apple has a lot of carve-outs and exceptions (see do-everything apps that contain mini app stores)

Which ones are you thinking of? Does Grab operate this way?

The China case is well-known, but that's really its own beast. KakaoTalk (Korea), while more of an 'everything' app than those in the West, is still a far cry from containing a mini app store. A user can't choose to add any new functionality by installing something - it's all included right from the get-go. My (limited) experience with Line (Japan, Taiwan, Thailand) is similar. So I'm curious if there's any non-Chinese apps you can name.

FWIW I'm not arguing against your fundamental premise, would just like to know which do-everything apps you mean.

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3. ◴[31 Mar 25 15:01 UTC] No.43535821[source]▶
4. agos ◴[31 Mar 25 15:14 UTC] No.43535979[source]▶
there might be no rule of law but it's important to point out these exceptions because it weakens Apple's position when they harass other developers with the excuse of maintaining whatever it is that the walled garden provides
5. alephnerd ◴[31 Mar 25 15:38 UTC] No.43536278[source]▶
Grab isn't a good example of an "everything app". Zalo is probably the closest to WeChat and Line.
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6. jjani ◴[01 Apr 25 04:50 UTC] No.43542960{3}[source]▶
Thanks. I think Zalo's only big in Vietnam, so we're at one example outside of China, where the rules have never been the same anyway. GGP's premise doesn't seem to hold up, though I can see the idea of banks getting exceptions being potentially more accurate.

Though if it's similar to Line I wouldn't even count Zalo either, as said, from what I've seen with Line it doesn't have an app-store-in-app, all functionalities are predetermined and preinstalled. It just does a lot of things, but that in itself doesn't go against any App Store rules.