Apple's list of "Must-Have Apps" leaves out some big names and this could be why

You might not know it, but Apple has a list of "must-have" apps that it recommends for new iPhone users. No, it is not a popularity contest as the list is curated by Apple and isn't based on the number of iPhone users who have installed it. On the list you'll find plenty of household names such as Snapchat, YouTube, Google, Gmail, Amazon, and TikTok.

You can find this list when you first open the App Store. Under a heading that reads "Must-Have Apps," you'll see "Essential apps to get started." The apps listed are:

Apple must feel that iPhone users are lonely since the list includes a trio of dating apps. But even more interesting is the fact that, as first noted by Inc. Magazine, Facebook and none of the other apps under the Meta corporate umbrella are included in the "Must-Have Apps." That means that the list excludes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. While each of these apps has more than one billion users and many iPhone users have downloaded them on their phones, Apple did not feel compelled to include the three on its list.

The reason why might date back to Apple's unveiling of its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature in 2020. When first announced by Apple, Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg attacked Apple for allowing iPhone users to decide whether they wanted to be tracked by apps across the internet and via apps. Without trackers, advertisers wouldn't know what products iPhone users recently had been looking up online.

But the main thing about ATT as far as Facebook is concerned is that it would cut Facebook's revenue since those companies serving up ads could no longer hone in on promoting the type of products that iPhone users were interested in. Less interest equals fewer clicks on ads resulting in less revenue for Facebook. Zuckerberg was so steamed when Apple first announced ATT that he paid for full-page advertisements against the iOS feature.

Earlier this year, Facebook said that Apple's ATT would cost it as much as $10 billion in revenue in 2022. However, small businesses are reporting that lately, their ads have been performing better. Still, there seems to be no love lost between Apple and Facebook, and Apple's decision to omit Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp from its list of  "Must-Have Apps" might be some type of power play on Apple's part.

On the other hand, Apple might be concerned by Facebook's history of allowing subscribers' personal data to be sold to third-party firms. After all, as you might recall, the company was involved in selling user data belonging to 87 million users to Cambridge Analytica. With Apple promoting privacy as a major iPhone feature, the gang in Cupertino might not want to be seen recommending apps owned by a personal data sieve-like Facebook.

When Apple first released iOS 14.5, iPhone users started to receive requests from certain apps giving them two choices. The user could demand that he no longer be tracked by an app for the purpose of receiving online ads, or give permission for that app to continue to track him. In thae case of the latter, the user would expect to continue to receive online ads based on the places he visited online.

Toward the end of last year, one study found that 62% of iPhone users demanded that they no longer be tracked by their apps while 38% gave permission to be tracked. Regardless of what happens to these percentages in the near future, the big news here is that Apple would prefer that Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp not be installed on the iPhone. 

It should be noted that Apple also failed to include Netflix and Spotify in the list. Both of those firms have yelled loud and often about Apple's in-app payment policies that require all in-app payments be made through Apple's own platform from which it takes a 15% to 30% cut of in-app revenue.

Apple could be using the curation of its "Must-Have Apps" list to get back at some companies that have failed to follow every whim from the tech giant.