Apple Blocks Facebook From Running Its Internal iOS Apps

Tom Warren, for The Verge:

Apple has shut down Facebook’s ability to distribute internal iOS apps, from early releases of the Facebook app to basic tools like a lunch menu. A person familiar with the situation tells The Verge that early versions of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and other pre-release “dogfood” (beta) apps have stopped working, as have other employee apps, like one for transportation. Facebook is treating this as a critical problem internally, we’re told, as the affected apps simply don’t launch on employees’ phones anymore.

This won’t change how Facebook operates. John Gruber recently called Facebook ‘a criminal enterprise’ and I’m finally willing to agree with him — that company should be treated as such by everyone. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t lose any sleep if they were completely booted from the App Store (including Instagram, WhatsApp, and all their other assets).