Uber broke Apple’s iOS privacy rules and Tim Cook wasn't happy about it

Uber added fingerprinting code in effort to catch Chinese fraudsters, leading to CEO Travis Kalanick's reported dressing down in Apple's Cupertino headquarters

Uber broke Apple's privacy rules in its iOS app in an effort to catch Chinese fraudsters, resulting in chief executive Travis Kalanick being hauled in to Cupertino for a personal dressing down from Tim Cook, it has been revealed.

Apple prevents developers from identifying specific iPhones for privacy reasons, arguing that a phone that is completely wiped and resold should have no links to its previous owner; to that end, in 2012, the company stopped allowing apps on its App Store to access information like the "Unique Device Identifier" (UDID) and similar identifying information.