Hey iOS devs, you might be accidentally breaking Apple’s NDA

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iOS 12
Posting iOS 12 screenshots is a big no-no.
Photo: Apple

WWDC 2018 bug Cult of Mac iOS 12 tidbits and screenshots have been flooding the web all week after Apple dropped the first betas for iOS 12 and macOS Mojave. But there’s a small problem with all that.

It turns out that posting screenshots from Apple’s unreleased software is a total violation of the NDA developers agreed to before becoming iOS developers.

Apple’s Developer Program License Agreement changes quite frequently, so it wouldn’t be a shock if you missed a few lines that Apple added this year that expressly forbid posting screenshots of iOS 12. As pointed out by Gizmodo, the new clause in section 9 puts screenshot-happy devs in a bad position.

The fineprint

Further, Apple agrees that You will not be bound by the foregoing confidentiality terms with regard to technical information about pre-release Apple Software and Program Agreement Page 37 services disclosed by Apple at WWDC (Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference), except that you may not post screenshots of, write public reviews of, or redistribute any pre-release Apple Software, Apple Services or hardware.

Posting pre-released software screenshots is always a tricky situation. On one hand, Apple fans are eager to dive into all the changes immediately to get acquainted with the upcoming features. However, on Apple’s side, a lot of changes could still happen between now and iOS 12’s public release in the fall. Screenshots of earlier builds that have since been changed could be confusing to normal users who aren’t playing around with iOS 12 through the beta stages.

Section 11.2(b) of the Developer Program License Agreement notes that violators of section 9 could have their developer accounts terminated. So if you don’t want to lose your access to iOS 12 betas, maybe hold off on posting photos of all the iOS 12 tweaks.

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