Uber Tried To Fool Apple Update: Tim Cook Threatened To Remove App From App Store

Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly disclosed to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick that the Uber app abused Apple's privacy guidelines. However, the New York Times on Sunday revealed that the Apple CEO, Tim Cook threatened to have the Uber app removed from the Apple App Store for security reasons.

The issue announced in the early meeting that was held in 2005 claimed that Uber had a system to recognize iPhones after they had been wiped and the Uber app erased - something Uber has been doing to get china rid of driver fraud. In a statement, Tim Cook reportedly told Travis Kalanick saying "so, I have heard you have been breaking some of our rules." Nevertheless, if Uber app should be removed from the Apple Store, the multi-billion dollar startup would lose access to millions of its most customers.

Indeed, in Uber's effort to protect its customers, they went as far as developing a software that would ensure that any customer accessing the Uber app from the Apple's headquarters would see a different version of the app without the bits of the code that tracked iPhones after they had been erased, a practice known as geofencing. However, Apple developers could recognize that something wasn't right with the Uber app at Apple headquarters, and heightened the issue, which prompted the meeting amongst Kalanick and Cook reported Times. 

A spokesperson for Uber made known to Business Insider saying "We absolutely don't track individual customers or their location in the event that they have erased the app. As the New York Times story notes towards the very end, this is the best way to keep fraudsters from loading Uber onto a stolen smartphone, putting in a stolen credit card, taking a costly ride and after that wiping the smartphone again and again. Same strategies are additionally utilized for recognizing and blocking suspicious logins to ensure the safety of our user's accounts. Having the capacity to detect known fraudsters when they attempt to get back onto our system is an imperative security measure for both Uber and our users."

It was speculated that Kalanick was "shaken" by the meeting with Cook, yet the connection between Tim Cook and Travis Kalanick and their firms appears to be cordial again. Cook and Kalanick were seen together at the last year's Met Ball, and surprisingly, the Uber app is still accessible on theApple's App Store.