OpenUDID - now is the time!

By Yann Lechelle | Published: March 25, 2012

We’ve covered this issue before, preemptively. But now is the time to act!

Some reports have emerged that Apple is now massively rejecting apps that still use the “[UIDevice uniqueIdentifier]” a.k.a. the UDID (Unique Device IDentifier).
This means that developers have two choices: drop using this entirely, or find a replacement.

Some have gone the MAC address way, which we strongly advocate against because it is an even more sensitive unique identifier typically used to authenticate devices on VPNs and other private WLANs. So it too faces the risk to be deprecated. And rightly so!

So, if you haven’t done so already, go and check the open-source drop-in replacement, an effort we participate in: OpenUDID.org

 

 

 

 

 

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  • plecbe

    Any ID tracking is a privacy violation and should be forbidden everywhere. Full stop.

    • Anonymous

      Philippe,

      Agreed that privacy needs to be protected. In fact, while working on OpenUDID, we also submitted a bug report to Apple to request that they handle this like the rest of the sensitive features (Geolocalization, Push, etc…).

      Meanwhile, OpenUDID is something that we felt addresses the lack of access to UDID while at the same time protecting a super sensitive item which is the MAC Wifi address. Some are considering using it because it’s the obvious and lazy approach. If you wish, OpenUDID is both operation and a much lesser evil. Moreover, if you look at the OpenUDID implementation, it has a built-in opt-out system.

      It’s up to the community to grow from there.
      Our goal (app marketing companies) is actually not to track users, but rather to track conversion rates - which is about aggregate measures.

      Yann

    • http://appsfire.com/ AppsFire

      Disconnect your computer from the electric power then …

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  • http://twitter.com/2254 Michael Marr

    If MAC address tracking were employed by vendors, wouldn’t Apple simply reject apps with that capability.

    • http://appsfire.com/ AppsFire

      Hard to Say. Some vendors do use the MAC… But most agree it’s a security hazard, should be discouraged.

      Typos by Siri.