With iOS 13 Apple will introduce a feature that could force WhatsApp to change its app and eliminate calls and video calls
With the arrival of iOS 13, in September, Apple will introduce a change to the operating system that could put in trouble WhatsApp, Messenger and all other instant messaging services that allow you to make voice calls. That's what The Information reports, which also collected Facebook's comment on the matter.
Based on everything is the change, included in iOS 13, of the PushKit VoIP API that serve as a technical substrate for all apps that offer the user the ability to make VoIP calls and that, unlike today, will no longer allow these apps to run in the background. WhatsApp will perhaps be the app most affected by this change, as it also uses this feature to perform message encryption. It's very likely, then, that all or most apps that rely on the PushKit VoIP API will have to be redesigned and it's possible that they'll lose some functionality to continue running on iPhones.
Privacy issues
Based on Apple's decision to prevent third-party apps from running in the background while using the PushKit VoIP API is an attempt to curb user data collection on iPhones. WhatsApp, Messenger and all other apps of this type are in fact accused of running in the background not so much to provide a better service to the user, but only to collect data while he does something else.
Facebook, asked by The Information, denies this hypothesis: "The changes coming with the next iOS are not insignificant, but we are in contact with Apple to manage them as best as possible. To be clear: we use PushKit VoIP APIs to offer a high-level messaging experience, not to collect data."
Competition to iMessage
There's also a second hypothesis as to why Apple is trying to limit the operation of third-party messaging apps: they compete with iMessage, the similar service pre-installed on iPhones that, however, doesn't work on other manufacturers' smartphones. In addition, always with iOS 13, will arrive the new authentication feature "Sign in with Apple" that will be equivalent to those that already allow users to register and authenticate themselves on the Web with their Facebook or Google credentials.
Apple, therefore, is tightening the ropes of privacy also (or perhaps especially) to no longer allow other Internet bigwigs to collect valuable user data through its mobile devices.