Is it allowed to transfer iPhone UDID to my server?

Question

My app has a feature which requires identifying each app users. I'm planning making the app sends UDID to my server. Server stores it, for later use. I don't think that's a personal information, however, I want to know is it approvable or not in Apple's AppStore.

And, including transferring phone numbers. In the case of WhatsApp, it recognizes my friends' numbers automatically. I think that's impossible without some kind of data transfer.

Answer 1

You are allowed to transfer a device's UDID to your servers. That's what it's intended for.

Answer 2

Access to the UDID is grounds for rejection from the App Store. See an alternative to using the UDID at https://stackoverflow.com/a/10037636/1286639

Answer 3

Just make sure that it is no secret what your app does. If it transfers phone numbers to store those on your server then clearly mention this in the app's description or even ask the user for permission the first time.

That actually is a a reason to be rejected I think: not being clear about storing user's data on your own server/service.

Answer 4

Its important to note the difference between a UDID and a UUID.

UDID "unique device id" is hardware specific. It never changes for a particular device. For this reason, it has become a privacy concern and Apple is blocking apps that try to use this. As a result, Apple has generated an opt-out-able "device id" hash, particularly for advertisement usage. This new ID hash is called IFA and is available in iOS 6.0+.

UUID "universally unique id" is not hardware specific. It is a hash used to identify a device; but not particularly an absolute value. For example, PhoneGap generates a UUID based on device properties; this is what you get when you do device.uuid. If you delete the app and reinstall, you will get a new id hash. UUID is not being blocked by Apple.

I think the best solution in your case would be to use the IFA, with OpenUDID as a backup for iOS < 6.0.

Here is the code we use. If IFA is not available, get OpenUDID. [[You must install OpenUDID, read more about that here, https://github.com/ylechelle/OpenUDID.]]

NSString* uuid = nil;
if ([[UIDevice currentDevice] respondsToSelector:@selector(identifierForVendor)]) {
    // IOS 6 new Unique Identifier implementation, IFA
    uuid = [[[UIDevice currentDevice] identifierForVendor] UUIDString];
} else {
    // Before iOS6 (or if IFA disabled) you shoud use a custom implementation for uuid
    // Here I use OpenUDID (you have to import it into your project)
    // https://github.com/ylechelle/OpenUDID
    NSString* openUDID = [OpenUDID value];
    uuid = [OpenUDID value];
}