Apple clearly isn’t a fan of cryptocurrency with its new guidelines saying it will no longer “hodl” on to support for mining apps in the iOS App Store.
The guidelines say that cryptocurrency mining will be disallowed in App Store apps unless the processing is being performed off-device such as on a remote server or cloud provider.
"Apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining," the rules now say.
Some have suggested that mining could be used to help pay for free apps instead of unsightly advertisements. A small amount of unused computing power from each user’s device, while they’re using an app, could help to pay for development costs.
If you’re using an app on iOS devices to mine coins, for them or for yourself, don’t be surprised if your app is pulled from the App Store.
For most cryptocurrencies, mining on a mobile device for personal gain just isn’t worth the cost, power, or wear on the device. A potential miner is much better off using a graphics card from AMD or Nvidia.
There are some cryptocurrencies which are specifically designed to be mined on mobile. Electroneum, for example, claims “it is going to enable a new 3 trillion dollar market by allowing over 350m smartphone users in the developing world to enter the digital market for the first time.”
Electroneum’s mining app has been available on Android for some time. As of writing, the company says on its website that it’s “Coming soon on the App Store” which seems likely will have to be revoked based on Apple’s updated guidelines.
The full updated guidelines can be found here.
Do you agree with Apple’s decision to ban crypto-mining in iOS apps? Let us know in the comments.
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