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by robenkleene 223 days ago
> detects use of unsanctioned API calls

Is there a concrete example of this? We know this isn't blanket policy, because of a recent story (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45376977) that contradicts it. I can't find a reference to any macOS app failing notarization due to API calls.
2 comments
drysart 223 days ago
Notarization doesn't blanket block all access to private APIs; but the notarization process may look for and block certain known accesses in certain cases. This is because notarization is not intended to be an Apple policy enforcement mechanism. It's intended to block malicious software.

So in other words, using private APIs in and of itself isn't an issue. Neither is it an issue if your application is one that serves up adult content, or is an alternate App Store, or anything else that Apple might reject from its own App Store for policy reasons. It's basically doing what you might expect a virus scanner to do.

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robenkleene 223 days ago
Yeah, don't disagree with any of that, but I'm looking for explicit evidence that that is true (right now it sounds like it's just an assumption)? E.g., either examples of apps failing notarization due to API calls, or Apple explicitly saying that they analyze API calls. Without that it sounds like we're just guessing?
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Earw0rm 222 days ago
I have experienced it myself but this was some years ago, may not be current. Think it was things they were trying to deprecate, which are now fully gone - was around the time they introduced Hardened Runtime, 2018-19 ish.
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