Apple CEO vows to investigate Saudi app available at app store that tracks women

After Apple and Google recently coming under fire for hosting an app in Saudi Arabia that lets men track women, Apple CEO Tim Cook has taken notice of the app and has claimed to investigate it.

Few days ago, tech behemoths Google and Apple were accused to host an app called Absher in Saudi Arabia on their respective app stores. The app allowed men track women and prevent them from leaving the country.

Apple CEO Tim Cook in a recent interview with NPR said that he was unaware about it and will look into it. “I haven’t heard about it. But obviously we’ll take a look at it if that’s the case.”

Google, Apple under fire for hosting Saudi app that lets men track women

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden also took notice of the app and sent an open letter to Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, calling them to remove the app completely from App Store and Google Play Store respectively, wrote The Verge.

“I ask that you take immediate action to prevent your technical infrastructure, including your app stores, from being used by the Saudi government to enable the abhorrent surveillance and control of women. Your employees and your customers expect better,” he wrote in the letter.

Absher app, first highlighted by Business Insider, allowed male Saudi citizens to list ‘dependents’ via a name and passport number, and grants the guardian the ability to track a woman’s movement, and limit where they can go and how long they can stay in any one place. If the parameters are broken, the guardian gets an instant SMS alert too.