Apple bans cryptocurrency mining from iOS and Mac devices

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference held last week only where the company has released new App Store guidelines which bans the cryptocurrency mining on iOS device and Mac both. AppleInsider was the first one to spot the changes to the policy.

This is the first time Apple has offered a clear stand on the cryptocurrency apps. The company has stated "apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining."

"Apps may facilitate virtual currency storage, provided they are offered by developers enrolled as an organization." In addition, apps may not mine directly for cryptocurrencies, unless the mining is performed in the cloud or otherwise off-device. Apps may "facilitate transactions or transmissions of cryptocurrency on an approved exchange, provided they are offered by the exchange itself," although apps facilitating Initial Coin Offerings ("ICOs") must originate from "established banks, securities firms, futures commission merchants ("FCM"), or other approved financial institutions." And finally, cryptocurrency-related apps "may not offer currency for completing tasks, such as downloading other apps, encouraging other users to download, posting to social networks," reads the Apple blog post.

Under Hardware compatibility section Apple state that, " Design your app to use power efficiently. Apps should not rapidly drain the battery, generate excessive heat, or put unnecessary strain on device resources. Apps, including any third party advertisements displayed within them, may not run unrelated background processes, such as cryptocurrency mining."

Cryptocurrency mining has become one of the most popular ways for people to make money now a day. But on the other side, mining took a lot of computing power, pushing users to buy pricey and expensive graphics cards and use a large number of networks of devices, which also includes iPhones an iPads.

Calendar 2 an app which was found to be using customers computer to mine the cryptocurrency Monero was also pulled out because of some bug, but later reinstalled after the fix. Meanwhile, also earlier in 2018, a scammer has stolen more than $75,000 in Bitcoin from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

Hope the company has taken this step to make the security of its devices more accurate.

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