App industry news roundup – 22 October

It’s been a busy few weeks in the app industry and with the holiday shopping season approaching, we only expect it to get busier still! From new product launches to groundbreaking tech, there has been an abundance of inspiration and industry insight to drink in over the last month or so. To help you keep your finger on the pulse as you busy yourself with our Business-In-A-Box mobile app development agency opportunity , we’ve pulled together a handy round up of the most important and most interesting of current events from across the industry.

Are smart speakers spying on their users?

The BBC has reported this week that apps installed on smart speakers Amazon Echo and Google Home had been modified to spy on users – and had been approved by both firms.

It doesn’t appear that any users were actually affected as the BBC reports that this was an experiment by the German firm, Security Research Labs (SRL) to flag up issues. It created eight smart spies which looked like apps to give users their horoscope and generate random numbers. Those apps were submitted to the app stores and approved by both Google and Apple respectively, at which point they were modified by SRL to spy on users. They were instructed to eavesdrop on users and monitor passwords. SLR alerted the app store owners and both removed the apps, but this does raise questions about how secure approved apps are.

The smart spy creators said that they had been programmed to keep running after the user thought they had turned off the speaker or closed the app. They would sit in the background and listen out for phrases and words such as I – which was then transcribed and sent back to the SRL team.

Google and Apple said they had both removed the offending apps and had put new measures in place to ensure this couldn’t happen in future.

New app gives concert goes mixing deck on Elton John tour

Just when you thought there were no original ideas left, someone comes along with a cracking app idea! The Elton John app will allow the user to control their own mixing deck during the singer’s final ever tour. It picks up individual instrument tracks as the music is performed live and sends via radio signal to the user’s device. The audio is then synchronised and the listener then empowered to mix their own music, making certain instruments or voices more prominent in real time.

Apple facing criticism after pulling Hong Kong protest apps

Apple has been pulled into the ongoing tensions in Hong Kong after facing criticism for its decision to remove two apps that were being used to promote protests. One app allowed protestors to track the location of police and police barricades while the second was a media app removed due to its coverage of the protests.

The move comes as Tim Cooke, Apple CEO met with China’s Chief Market Regulator to discuss topics including more investment and business development in China. Some critics accuse Apple of removing the apps to appease the Chinese government. Apple says the app was removed because it put Hong Kong police at risk and was being used to target police offices.