iOS Application Security

1THE IOS SECURITY MODEL

Let’s give credit where credit is due: Apple has been pretty successful in keeping malicious software out of the App Store (as far as I know). But the application review process can be a frustrating black box for developers. The process used by Apple’s reviewers is not publicly documented, and sometimes it’s simply not clear what functionality is and isn’t permitted. Apple gives some decent guidelines,¹ but apps have been rejected based on criteria that apply to accepted applications as well.

Of course, what qualifies as malicious is defined by Apple, not by users. Apple uses the App Store as a way to control what functionality is available on the iOS platform, meaning the only way to obtain certain functionality is to ...