Facebook's internal apps borked after Apple cuts its enterprise certificate access

Apple removes Facebook's access to Enterprise Developer Program over data-slurping VPN app

Apple has cut-off Facebook's access to its Enterprise Developer Program, borking internal apps at the company that relied on the digital certificates issued via the application.

The move comes after Facebook was accused of mis-using the application for a virtual private networking (VPN) app that users had been encouraged to side-load on Apple devices - all in breach of Apple's terms and conditions.

Facebook had paid the users - some as young as 13 - up to $20 per month to use the ‘Facebook Research' app on to Apple devices. However, rather than improve users' security it instead rooted their devices and enabled Facebook to collect data on almost everything they did on their smartphones.

Facebook has been using its membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple

The app is similar to the Onavo Protect app that Apple had already banned from its App Store in June for the same reasons.

Now, the revocation of Facebook's access to Apple digital certificates has not just cut-off the Facebook Research app, but also borked early versions of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and other beta apps developed at Facebook, as well as internal apps used by employees.

"We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organisation," Apple said in a statement.

"Facebook has been using its membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple.

"Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data."

Within Facebook, staff are reported to be "pissed" and "angry" over the sudden borkage, according to Business Insider. Some, though, blame Facebook itself, rather than Apple.

Facebook staffers have been advised to use Apple's App Store to download the apps they have developed onto their own iPhones or iPads until either the situation is resolved or a solution is found.