Apple bans Facebook ‘Research’ app, breaks the social network’s internal iOS apps

Facebook and Apple are butting heads again thanks to the social network’s .

Apple has revoked the certificate that enables Facebook to distribute the app via Apple’s Enterprise Certificate Program, according to . This effectively bans Facebook’s Research app, which was first uncovered by on Tuesday.

Facebook had said it the iOS app from its program, but it looks as if Apple beat them to it.

According to , Apple’s ban has also affected all of Facebook’s internal use and pre-release beta iOS applications for not only Facebook, but Instagram and WhatsApp as well.

The Research app was distributed to its users through Apple’s Developer Enterprise Program. This, itself, is a violation of Apple’s policies as these apps are only meant to be distributed internally within companies and organizations. In August, Facebook was forced to remove its Onavo VPN app from the App Store due to the fact that the application violated Apple’s data collection policies.

In its investigative report, Techcrunch found that the Research app shared plenty of code from the Onavo VPN app. It seems as if Facebook used Apple’s Enterprise system as a workaround knowing the iPhone maker wouldn’t approve its app otherwise.

Under Facebook’s “Project Atlas” research program, the company offered Facebook users $20 a month to install an app that gave the social network complete access to what they were doing on their iPhone and Android phones. The program targeted users as young as thirteen years old in order to monitor their mobile phone internet usage. Facebook hid its involvement with the program by utilizing third party beta testing services that recruit test subjects.

This is far from the first time Apple and Facebook have . 

Last year, when Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked if he was Facebook CEO after the Cambridge Analytica data scandal broke, the Apple CEO took a shot at Mark Zuckerberg and said, “I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

The Facebook CEO was by Cook’s remarks that he reportedly ordered Facebook staff to switch over from iPhones to Android phones.

In a statement provided to Mashable, an Apple spokesperson wrote:

“We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization. Facebook has been using their 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.”

Mashable has also reached out to Facebook for comment, and we will update this story when we hear back.