Yesterday evening, Apple started cracking down on apps that use third-party services to update without App Store approval. The majority of the affected apps seemed to use Rollout.io, an SDK that allows developers to modify their app in “real-time.”
Now, Rollout’s CEO and co-founder, Erez Rusovsky, has issued a statement on Apple’s policy shift…
In a statement posted on the Rollout.io website, Rusovsky explained that the central purpose of the service is to allow developers to quickly fix bugs after an app has been released. In response to security concerns, Rusovsky also explains that Rollout is secured from any man-in-the-middle attacks and furthermore allows developers to patch vulnerabilities as they are discovered.
Rusovsky also explains in the blog post that Apple’s attitude shift doesn’t seem to be because of a new policy, but rather because of a more narrow interpretation of existing guidelines. Rollout was not aware of the policy shift ahead of time and has reached out to Apple to discuss.
Also, Rollout is safe, secured from any MiTM attacks, and allows developers to immediately patch vulnerabilities as they are discovered, without requiring users to download a new version.
Rollout also continues to argue that it remains within Apple’s guidelines:
We have already reached out to Apple to discuss and are committed to adjusting our offering as needed to remain in compliance under the more narrow interpretation of the guidelines.
Rusovsky says that Rollout will continue to move forward, with Apple’s new policy looming. He also teases the company’s upcoming service that “addresses the entire app development process, not only post-production.”
The full blog post can be read here.
