Are iOS Apps Immune to Abusive Advertising Practices?

Mobile app usage has surged globally, leading to the proliferation of in-app advertising. However, this business model introduces significant challenges, including inappropriate ad content in children’s apps, security risks, and deceptive practices. While extensive research has examined abusive ad practices in Android apps, iOS remains largely unexplored. Our study addresses this critical gap by developing iAdAuditor, a specialized ad auditing tool for iOS apps. Through a comprehensive empirical analysis of over 6,000 top-listed iOS apps, we reveal concerning patterns of abusive ad practices: over 3% of ad multimedia materials contain explicit content, 14.9% of ads employ deceptive tactics, and 20% of app promotions are age-inappropriate. By extending ad scrutiny to iOS, our work aims to equip stakeholders in the mobile advertising industry-Apple, ad network companies, developers, and third-party auditors-with empirical insights and robust tools to better identify, measure, and mitigate these issues, ultimately contributing to fostering a more responsible, secure, and user-centric mobile app ecosystem.