Apple to Require “Explicit User Approval” For Contact Data Access

As previously reported, Apple received a letter from Congress questioning the company about the way it allows iOS app developers to treat users’ contact info.

AllThingsD is sharing a statement it received from an Apple spokesperson: “Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines. We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

According to Google’s director of Android Developer Relations, Tim Bray (via PaidContent), this isn’t an issue with Android developers. He tweeted this afternoon:

This all comes after a number of reports about apps uploading user address book data. It started with Path, but also included Twitter and some others.