Is Apple Quietly Killing Social Media Apps ?

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Launched on September 16, iOS 18 has mainly attracted attention for the new AI features that take iPhones to a new level. But another development has clearly displeased developers: it concerns the sharing of contacts with applications. For its part, Apple claims this change better protects users' privacy. Explanations.

What's changing in iOS 18

Until now, when you installed an app on your iPhone, the developer could get access to your entire contact list if you granted it. Now, users who accept this request receive a second notification that allows them to select one by one the contacts to share.

Why developers are angry ?

Interviewed by our colleagues at the New York Times, Nikita Bier, founder and advisor of start-up, who has also created viral applications targeting young people, believes that these developments are cataclysmic for these actors. According to him, social networking applications based on friends' contacts and synchronization are “dead before they even saw the light of day”.

It is true that all those who launch new platforms in 2024 are betting heavily on the viral aspect by suggesting friends from their contact list to their users. As a result, their deployment could be much more difficult than in the past on the iOS ecosystem. A problem that large technology companies like Meta, already very well established in these markets, do not know.

Apple's response

According to the Cupertino company, these changes on iOS 18 should not impact developers too much. The Apple brand even believes that they could see an increase in contact sharing, because users who previously refused sharing could be more inclined to accept it if they can choose its terms.

This argument does not convince Nikita Bier, however, who claims that his sources within startups report a big drop in contact sharing since the launch of iOS 18. For some applications, the number of users sharing 10 contacts or less has increased by 25%.

It is still too early to measure the impact of these developments, but it will be interesting to follow this issue in the future. On the Android side, however, there is no change to note and you share all of your contacts if you accept it. To find out about other new features in iOS 18 that are worth checking out, we invite you to read our dedicated article here.

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