In the future, Apple might limit third-party trackers in the App Store, at least for kids apps. (via Wall Street Journal—paywall).
Kids App Tracking
Joanna Stern and Mark Secada investigated 80 apps. Most of them were apps that Apple promoted in the App Store under “Apps We Love.” All but one used trackers, averaging four trackers each.
In one app, called Curious World, Ms. Stern found that the app was collecting her son’s age, name, and books he tapped on, and sent the data to Facebook. Curious World CEO Abhi Arya claimed that it was the result of “rogue data” and “mistakenly” sent it to Facebook. Of course, collecting and sharing information about kids under 13 is prohibited in virtually every company’s terms of service.
Apple said it will investigate the situation, declining to comment on this specific situation but providing a statement:
For privacy and security reasons, Apple does not see what data users choose to share with developers and we can’t see what developers do on their servers.
Further Reading:
[Apple Banned Facebook App That Spied on Kids as Young as 13]