<p class="title">Alphabet Inc's Google said on Wednesday it disabled an iPhone app that it had paid some users to install to study their digital habits, following a similar move late on Tuesday by social media network Facebook Inc.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Google and Facebook had faced criticism from privacy experts for distributing their research apps through a program iPhone maker Apple Inc had created for companies to distribute apps to employees.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The Screenwise Meter iOS app should not have operated under Apple’s developer enterprise program — this was a mistake, and we apologize," Google said in a statement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Apple did not immediately respond to a request to comment.</p>
<p class="title">Alphabet Inc's Google said on Wednesday it disabled an iPhone app that it had paid some users to install to study their digital habits, following a similar move late on Tuesday by social media network Facebook Inc.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Google and Facebook had faced criticism from privacy experts for distributing their research apps through a program iPhone maker Apple Inc had created for companies to distribute apps to employees.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The Screenwise Meter iOS app should not have operated under Apple’s developer enterprise program — this was a mistake, and we apologize," Google said in a statement.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Apple did not immediately respond to a request to comment.</p>