Hi, I’m developing an iOS application and want to explore if there are any official methods available to monitor or retrieve information about the usage patterns of other apps installed on a user’s device — such as launch time, duration of use, or app switching behavior.
I understand Apple enforces strict privacy policies. My question is:
Are there any APIs or frameworks (public or private) that allow reading app usage data from other apps?
Can Screen Time or DeviceActivityReport frameworks be leveraged for such use?
Would an app like this be eligible for App Store approval, or would it require special entitlements?
My intent is not to violate privacy, but to explore if Apple allows any of this under Screen Time APIs or family usage scenarios.
Any insights or guidance would be appreciated!
Thanks, [Your Name]
First, some policy comments…
Would an app like this be eligible for App Store approval … ?
I don’t work for App Review and thus can’t speak definitively about their policy.
Similarly, I’m not involved in the approval process for the Family Controls managed capability and thus I can’t speak definitively about that policy.
Are there any APIs or frameworks (public or private) …
The concept of “private APIs” doesn’t make sense. An API is something that’s intended for app developers to use. Everything else is an implementation detail.
We generally don’t talk about implementation details here on the forums [1] because that undermines our goal of helping developers create products that work now and in the future.
would it require special entitlements?
We don’t use the term special entitlement these days. Rather, we have managed capabilities.
In general, a managed capability allows you to use an entitlement that gates access to an API. Critically, such APIs are… well… APIs. They’re documented and supported just like any other API.
are [there any official methods available to monitor or retrieve information about the usage patterns of other apps installed on a user’s device
In general, no.
There are two specific cases that I’ll cover below but, beyond those, iOS does not have a supported general-purpose mechanism for your app to monitor the state of other apps.
The first special case is the various Screen Time APIs. Keep the following in mind:
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These include Screen Time, DeviceActivity, and FamilyControls.
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These are intended to be used in a parent/child setup. The abstract for each framework makes that clear.
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Critical functionality is gated by an entitlement (
com.apple.developer.family-controls). -
For Development signing, the capability for that entitlement is available to all developers
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For Distribution signing, the capability is managed.
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Even with the entitlement, these APIs still enforce strict privacy limits.
The second option you might explore is MDM. I don’t think it returns the level of detail you’re interested in, but I don’t maintain deep expertise in this technology so I might’ve missed something. To research this yourself, see Device Management > Commands and Queries.
As to whether this makes sense for you, that depends on whether your targeting managed environments. If you’re looking for a solution that works for normal App Store users, MDM isn’t relevant.
Share and Enjoy
—
Quinn “The Eskimo!” @ Developer Technical Support @ Apple
let myEmail = "eskimo" + "1" + "@" + "apple.com"
[1] Although there are exceptions to that rule. For example, sometimes it’s helpful to know a bit about the implementation in order to debug an issue. However, it’s a mistake to incorporate such details into your product because the implementation can change.