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Comment by theclaw | Hacker News Reader

Apps use undocumented APIs to track which apps you’re using and prevent you from opening certain apps, Apple realises this is a potential security/privacy problem, so builds screentime into the OS so it can plug the security hole.

What they should have done is allow apps access to the screentime data if the user gives permission to the app to manage screentime.

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That sounds like a fair compromise. Make Screen Time data a permission just like access to cameras and microphones and regulate the usage of such data so that it doesn’t get siphoned off to who-knows-where.

> regulate the usage of such data so that it doesn’t get siphoned off to who-knows-where

How would you do this?

Apps which request access to ScreenTime data show up in a consent list in the parental controls UI.

However, the kinds of data exposed likely would be the output of the screen time processing system, not the raw data. So these apps would get different UI widgets showing the same data Apple is displaying.

Sure, but apps are still getting access to things like which apps are installed and how much they’re being used.

From what I see, I don't think these apps are using undocumented APIs. Also, your "solution" doesn't meaningfully improve the situation we have currently.

They’re documented but they were meant for enterprise usage. Tracking user habits is a risk, just like VPN apps could track all user’s network requests

Yes, the point is that Apple currently does not have an API for this because they seem to consider being able to have access to other apps on the device something that an app should not have access to. So presumably any solution to this problem needs to function in a way that meaningfully improves the current situation.

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