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The level of transparency about which APIs a particular app uses on the iPhone is not particularly good. I have a feeling that some apps and libraries, particularly advertising/analytics solutions have been abusing this fact.

The Android system of notifying the user exactly which APIs are being used by an app, prior to install, seems like a step in the right direction.




The Android system of notifying the user exactly which APIs are being used by an app, prior to install, seems like a step in the right direction.

The talk mentions that class unmarshalling, encrypted payloads, and other tricks that make this a very hard problem. The truth is that code-based analysis can only go so far, especially when what you're looking for will be deliberately obfuscated. The legal barriers that mechanical_fish brought up are probably far more effective.


There is no need to analysis - simply demand the app declare what it plans to use and then deny all other APIs at runtime.




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