Tell HN: An app is silently installing itself on my iPhone every day

Posted by _-x-_ 14 hours ago

Every day for the past 3 days around 1pm EST the 'Headspace' app has been silently appearing on my iPhone (13 Pro). Automatic downloads are turned off and I've updated to the latest iOS since this started happening.

I googled around and found a couple reddit threads with people reporting the exact same thing starting 2 or 3 days ago. There were reports from people on iPhone 12 and iPhone 17 so it doesn't seem device-specific.

Anyone else seeing this? Does anyone understand how or why this is happening?

360 points | 134 commentspage 3

whilenot-dev 9 hours ago|

I think it's worth mentioning that you had the app installed around a year ago, as I can imagine some "restore from backup" scenario at play.

I'm currently with a 13 mini (26.4.2), never had this app installed, and am not encountering this issue.

ddxv 10 hours ago||

If anyone wants to browse some of the SDKs in headspace:

https://appgoblin.info/apps/493145008/sdks

I see normal development and tracking SDKs. If anyone sees something interesting let me know.

speedgoose 9 hours ago||

The Facebook Ads SDK in a mental health app isn’t normal. Or shouldn’t.

Even analytics SDKs is a bit weird to see. Are Amplitude or Sentry hosting data with a healthcare compliant infrastructure ? I won’t bet. Are those SDKs for sure not leaking health care data? It can be inadvertently, especially with Sentry. But I really wonder about why people feel the need to track so much. Do they **** in front of PowerPoint slides showing the tracking data or is it to sell user data?

rkachowski 9 hours ago||

They are normal. They generally want to know if the ad spend resulted in an install. Health care data is radioactive and they would be fucking up very hard if sending this to an analytics service.

speedgoose 9 hours ago|||

I have seen studies where some apps were fucking up very hard and sending healthcare data to services that shouldn’t receive it. Sometimes in clear text.

My trust is very low. Having healthcare data in a Sentry payload by mistake happens to the best of us.

hansvm 9 hours ago|||

Health care companies are radioactively affected by mishandling healthcare data (give or take practical impact being very toothless, especially nowadays). The data itself is mostly not an issue though under any legal theories, and if Joe Schmo hedge fund digs up your colon photos that's not usually an issue.

concinds 8 hours ago||

I never thought there would be online SDK databases, what a useful resource in general. Thank you.

dagmx 10 hours ago||

I’m curious if everyone experiencing this is on 26.4.2? It came out 4 days ago according to Wikipedia…it would make sense that it lines up with when people are seeing it start.

I’m on the 26.5 beta and not seeing it at all.

timothyisonline 9 hours ago||

Possible this is tied to your carrier?

snailmailman 9 hours ago|

I don’t think carriers have the ability to install apps on iOS. I’ve always thought it’s weird that they can do that on android.

burnt-resistor 5 hours ago|||

They absolutely do. Some countries mandate some apps that cannot be removed. While Apple doesn't allow carriers to install mandatory bloatware apps, it allows country-specific "national security" apps and background processes that don't have app icons. It's been this way almost forever in pretty much every country that just about every mobile device, it's just Apple has been a bit better for users.

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-russia-iphone-apps-law/

https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/03/after-apple-refusal-indian-go...

waiwai933 4 hours ago||

Those articles don't seem to support what you're saying? Russia's apps aren't preinstalled, they're just offered as suggestions, and India never got their app installed. I certainly don't see anything that mentions background processes in either article either.

tjoff 5 hours ago|||

What? Sounds like a US thing?

orf 6 hours ago||

Does it happen when WiFi and mobile data are disabled? Try disabling them an hour or so before 1pm EST.

If it still appears then it was never removed in the first place, which is a very different bug to it installing itself.

con 10 hours ago||

Just checked and it also installed itself on my phone. iPhone 17 Pro, non-US App Store, on latest iOS beta, no MDM. Sounds like an Apple Store bug to me.

concinds 8 hours ago|

Ever had it installed before? I wonder if that's a pattern.

DANmode 40 minutes ago|||

Definitely the strongest pattern.

con 6 hours ago|||

I did

derefr 8 hours ago||

Do you have an Apple Watch paired to this iPhone?

(I know that installing apps on iOS forces installation of the equivalent watchOS apps; not sure if having a watchOS app installed/running/activating itself forces installation of a "companion" iOS app that it might rely on.)

nkotov 10 hours ago||

Had this happen as well. I haven’t used Headspace in years. Randomly had the app appear on Home Screen.

jgrahamc 6 hours ago||

Same here. I had installed Headspace long ago and deleted it. It's now reappearing if I delete it.

verisimi 9 hours ago|

Side point, re this:

> Automatic downloads are turned off

Isn't it funny that we're so used to the misuse of language (ie lies) that this isn't even a point? I'm talking about software flags to represent your choices, that are merely an 'aspirational intention' and don't actually correlate with reality.

In my world, it shouldn't be possible to override 'turned off automatic downloads'. 'Off' shouldn't be a pacifier for the user, while Apple, Google or whoever can continue installing whatever they like. This isn't what words mean. There isn't actually a choice, but it misleads you into thinking there is. I'm sure there are legal words around this in the "ownership" contract, but "off" can't really mean "on".

More comments...