Tile Accuses Apple of Anticompetitive Behavior That Has ‘Gotten Worse, Not Better’

Tile accused Apple of anticompetitive behavior that has “gotten worse, not better” in a statement published Wednesday on the House of Representatives website.

In January, Tile testified against Apple, claiming that the company was being anti-competitive towards the company. Apple has stopped selling its trackers in its stores, hired one of their engineers, and is rumored to be close to launching its own product and service similar to what Tile currently offers.

Now, according to a new report from Reuters, the company behind the Tile tracker has accused Apple of anti-competitive behaviour, saying the relationship between the two companies is not improving. Tile implied this was in the light of Apple launching a competitor product to Tile, which is believed to be called Apple Tag.

“Unfortunately…Apple’s anti-competitive behaviors have gotten worse, not better,” Tile said in a statement to a panel of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

Among Tiles’ complaints is that, despite Apple’s alleged “multiple promises” to reinstate Always Allow background permissions for third party apps’ geolocation services, it has not yet acted on this. This change was made by Apple in iOS 13 as a safeguard against apps that track location in the background. But the change interfered with Tile’s functionality, meaning that the app is only able to help a user locate a tracked object like their keys and wallet if they lose them while the app is open.

“Despite Apple’s multiple promises to reinstate ‘Always Allow’ background permissions option for third-party apps’ geolocation services, Apple has not yet done so,” says the company.

The House Judiciary Committee investigation is one of a handful of government probes into various tech companies and their business operations. The US Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, and state attorneys general are looking into claims of monopolization, price fixing, anticompetitive practices, and more.