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

593 points by _-x-_ 5mo 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?

psynixx 5mo ago
I’ve been getting this too, same app same behaviour… Anyone been able to figure out what is causing this?
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  Have you downloaded the app before?
throwaway5465 5mo ago
Maybe a competitor is trying to FUD them?
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  I would imagine that this isn't (or at least shouldn't be) possible based on Apple's security. The app is automatically downloading to my phone without my permission.
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
k310 5mo ago
Did you ever install it, or Ginger? An app store search also turned up "Headspace Care" (Ginger) Ginger is now Headspace Care It would be beyond malware for an app to install itself, since there's that app store hurdle to leap. (IMO)
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  I installed the app in March of last year, and then deleted it the same day because I didn't want to pay for the subscription
mandeepj 5mo ago
How did you find that? Any notification?
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  It just appears on my homescreen
rglover 5mo ago
If you've ever installed any companion app on your desktop macOS, your phone will try to sync apps (I think the same with Apple TV). Caught me off guard a few times.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  No, I've never downloaded it on my desktop. It appears that I downloaded it onto my phone over a year ago (I got an email in my inbox), but didn't want to pay for it so I deleted it.
janstice 5mo ago
Is your phone connected to some work mobile device management? I could imagine someone has a jinxed Jamf or intune rule that is pushing things out.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  No, this is my personal device. It has never been connected to any MDM.
  - Schiendelman 5mo ago
    Have you actually checked your device management settings?
    - teruakohatu 5mo ago
      Yes, there are alt app stores that try to get you to agree to installing a MDM
    - _-x-_ 5mo ago
      Yes. In Settings > General > VPN & Device Management, it says 'Sign in to Work or School Account'. Is there a different device management setting that I should be looking at?
      - Schiendelman 5mo ago
        That's the one. I was worried you might have something you didn't know about!
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]
xinji-standard 5mo ago
[dead]
_-x-_ 5mo ago
Here's a Reddit thread of other people experiencing the same issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1su82sc/headspace_app_keeps_getting_installed/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1su82sc/headspace_app_...
- Bjartr 5mo ago
  Based on that I'd guess either a meditation app company has figured out how to circumvent a lot of controls put in place by Apple, or it's a bug on Apple's side
  - _-x-_ 5mo ago
    Yeah, I think the latter is more likely than the former. Perhaps a server side bug that's silently downloading the app on any device that's installed it previously?
    - donkey_brains 5mo ago
      But why this one specific app and no others?
      - _-x-_ 5mo ago
        Right, that's what confuses me the most. I was very surprised to find the reddit thread showing that other people are also having this specific app silently installed on their devices.
        dd8601fn 5mo ago
        Makes me think something got jacked up adding/removing things from promotional bundles with other apps. It shouldn’t do that, obviously, but headspace does seem like it’s one that bundles “free” with a bunch of health insurance, education, etc. From a debugging perspective, without having Apples information, I kinda want to know if all affected users have some related health or education apps.
      - 5mo ago
treexs 5mo ago
this is the plot of Persona 5
- rootsudo 5mo ago
  He can be the joker we need.
- efilife 5mo ago
  how heavy of a spoiler is this? I wanted to play it
  - applfanboysbgon 5mo ago
    It's not really a spoiler. It is something that happens near the beginning of the game.
  - diegoperini 5mo ago
    If I am not mistaken, it's even shown in the marketing materials to build suspense.
  - makeitdouble 5mo ago
    It's covered in the first 10~20min or so of the game, and is really a minor side point. Off topic, put P5 as a game doesn't really care about spoilers much, there is one specific story telling gimmick that will screw with you if you're really sensitive to these kind of things.
lovich 5mo ago
[flagged]
- lovich 5mo ago
  [flagged]
  - slater 5mo ago
    Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - lovich 5mo ago
      When this forum handles the bot and propaganda problem I might consider those rules. Currently we are inundated by accounts who don’t give a shit and make a new automatically 3 seconds after their flagging. As long as those accounts are allowed I don’t really care for the stated rules that aren’t actually enforced.
- anon84873628 5mo ago
  At least they're exposing their nefarious plans for the purposes of... Offering people mental healthcare? It's probably just some Apple bug.
  - lovich 5mo ago
    Why did a mental healthcare company have the ability to exploit this? Do you think they accidentally found this 5 seconds before their exploit was launched or do you think they might have actually put some effort into doing this since they are an organization of people.
    - kennywinker 5mo ago
      I am pretty skeptical it’s intentional. Very risky move. If they make apple look bad they can say goodbye to getting featured in the app store, or could even get pulled from the store completely. I can see a fucked up ceo greenlighting a trick to get their app installed on your phone without asking. I can’t really see them having it repeatedly download. I suspect it’s a bug, or worst case a backdoor that’s been triggered with a commercial app instead of spyware accidentally or “accidentally”.
a34729t 5mo ago
I would call Apple support; you might even get an engineer call you back. I am sure they would love to know what the hell is going on.
yokuze 5mo ago
Do you have Settings > Apps > App Store > (Automatic Downloads) App Downloads turned on? I noticed apps appearing on my Home Screen I’d never heard of before. Turns out with that setting and Family Purchase sharing turned on, every time my wife installed a new app, it installed on my phone too. That may not be your exact scenario, but I wonder if turning off that Automatic App Downloads setting (if enabled) changes anything. Could give you a clue, if so.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  App Downloads and App Updates are both turned off. I don't have anyone else's devices on my account, just me. Thank you for the suggestions though!
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
  - wallst07 5mo ago
    Even with auto downloads turned off, does it show up in your app library or as a purchased app? You can still have a app library with apps that "should be" downloaded, what happens if its removed from that list?
- trinsic2 5mo ago
  Speaking of which. Under Cellular Data There is a setting right below Automatic Downloads call "App Downloads". I wonder if that works independently of whether or not Automatic Downloads is off. The only options are: Always allow, ask if over 200mb and always ask.
COFyumo 5mo ago
I have the same exact thing happening. I deleted the app a few days ago when was surprised to see it in my app list. I had previously downloaded the app but and removed it because I never used it. A few days ago I noticed the app when browsing through my app list and thought maybe I didnt delete it properly, so I made sure to delete it. Then this morning my iPhone updated software versions and I found he Headpsace app again on my home, except this time it was grayed out and waiting for me to go on wifi to download. I just deleted it again but am equally dumbfounded
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  That's interesting that it still showed up on your homescreen despite not being able to download
meloyc 5mo ago
jailbreak phone?
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  Negative
bastawhiz 5mo ago
Do you have MDM enabled on your device? Does your company offer Headspace as a perk and some arcane set of sketchy business agreements led to auto install policy in your company's MDM solution?
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  No MDM installed
1659447091 5mo ago
Do you use iCloud drive? This might be a stretch as I am taking a guess at the implementation, but apps can sync with iCloud Drive and I keep getting app folders showing up after telling it not sync but the prefs reset after certain states(not quite sure when/how)-- it then creates a new sync folder when interacting with the app again. (after having turned off sync and deleting the folder -- once it resets) I am wondering if that app had that feature (icloud drive syncing) and something of the reverse is happening. Where you have a document still on icloud drive from when you installed the app. Maybe there is some action or state change going on after interacting with drive on a mac or something similar. And now it's created the right circumstances for icloud drive to try and sync the file but there is no app on any device so it downloads the app instead since it's missing and there is some dangling file looking for its home.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  It still doesn't make sense why the app started silently downloading itself 3 days ago when I haven't had it installed in over a year. I do use iCloud drive but do not see anything related to the app inside of it.
  - 1659447091 5mo ago
    Did you update iOS before it started happening? Wondering if they may have introduced a regression that is now trying to re-sync everything after the last update (sync files may be hidden, I set files to always show)
    - _-x-_ 5mo ago
      I updated after noticing the issue
DavideNL 5mo ago
@_-x-_: "Settings > App Store > Show Install Confirmations > On". Maybe that helps?
- garyfirestorm 5mo ago
  This setting does not exist on iOS 26.4.1
  - DavideNL 5mo ago
    It should: - https://old.reddit.com/r/iPadOS/comments/1prkpaq/can_i_turn_off_this_popup_every_time_i_download/ https://old.reddit.com/r/iPadOS/comments/1prkpaq/can_i_turn_... - https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fl9gh20q6hk8g1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1179%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Da4ede1daea919ed21db8d6c275acd8a45d83c923 https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....
    - parker-3461 5mo ago
      I just checked that I could see it in the Settings App search bar, but it does not show up under the actual App Store settings page, might be an implementation bug related to user region. Edit 1: this was on iPadOS 26.3.1 (a) (23D771330a)
altairprime 5mo ago
The iOS reviews for the app also confirm this story affecting others.
- julianozen 5mo ago
  Looks like something was deployed Thursday evening. My bet is it’s some kind of test configuration for the App Store itself that just happened to pick headspace and it’s rolled into prod by accident
aaronbrethorst 5mo ago
I wonder if U2, or Bono, has taken a significant stake in Headspace recently (kidding).
- edbaskerville 5mo ago
  Deep cut
  - swiftcoder 5mo ago
    Jesus, I hope not. That happened just a few years ago... right?
    - stingraycharles 5mo ago
      Wasn’t that around the release of the iPhone X?
      - kaelwd 5mo ago
        iPhone X? That came out this year didn't it?
        hnlmorg 5mo ago
        No, you’re thinking of the iPad Touch
        ukuina 5mo ago
        I'm pretty sure it was last year, when the "no new features, bugfixes only" MacOS version was released.
    - dtech 5mo ago
      More than a decade ago
- steve1977 5mo ago
con 5mo 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 5mo ago
  Ever had it installed before? I wonder if that's a pattern.
  - con 5mo ago
    I did
  - DANmode 5mo ago
    Definitely the strongest pattern.
- HoldOnAMinute 5mo ago
  I have never installed it, and currently don't have it installed.
NetOpWibby 5mo ago
_Severance intensifies_
nkotov 5mo ago
Had this happen as well. I haven’t used Headspace in years. Randomly had the app appear on Home Screen.
ddxv 5mo ago
If anyone wants to browse some of the SDKs in headspace: https://appgoblin.info/apps/493145008/sdks https://appgoblin.info/apps/493145008/sdks I see normal development and tracking SDKs. If anyone sees something interesting let me know.
- speedgoose 5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo ago
csomar 5mo ago
> Does anyone understand how or why this is happening? They are drowning in tech debt. Here are two main issues I have with my iPhone/iOS: I can't search for the telegram app. It doesn't show up. It shows fine on the iPad. Also just a few minutes ago, app search decided not to work. I usually use it to pull my Wallet to pull my card. It was an awkward moment as I had no idea where the wallet app actually is. I have lost count of the minor polish issues. The experience has degraded so much that you no longer care.
- snailmailman 5mo ago
  Regarding the telegram app I’d check iOS settings->apps->telegram->search and make sure “show app in search” is checked You can intentionally hide apps from search. If you did this, it’s not very obvious that its hidden from search unless you dig for the setting. Similarly, “hidden” apps refuse to show up in search results anywhere, even in settings.
  - nathanwh 5mo ago
    Thank you for this, I have wondered for more than a year why Google Maps would not show up when I searched for it.
  - csomar 5mo ago
    Thank you. I wonder how that happened as I was not aware such a feature existed.
    - pirates 5mo ago
      So then it’s not really any lack of polish or technical debt, just user error.
dagmx 5mo 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.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  I was on 26.3.X when it began happening, prior to updating
timothyisonline 5mo ago
Possible this is tied to your carrier?
- snailmailman 5mo 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.
  - tjoff 5mo ago
    What? Sounds like a US thing?
  - burnt-resistor 5mo 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://www.wired.com/story/apple-russia-iphone-apps-law/ https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/03/after-apple-refusal-indian-government-completes-u-turn-on-mandatory-iphone-app/ https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/03/after-apple-refusal-indian-go...
    - waiwai933 5mo 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.
verisimi 5mo 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".
whilenot-dev 5mo 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.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  This appears to be a more widespread issue affecting users that have previously installed the app
bofia 5mo ago
Are other people using your phone?
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  No
doncho 5mo ago
Very interesting, especially if it found a way to bypass the explicit disabling of automatic downloads… Now imagine you’re roaming during a 10-day vacation…and you think you’re in control :) …
bfbf 5mo ago
Do you have TestFlight installed? That’s the only other way I can think of delivering apps besides the App Store and MDM.
usef- 5mo ago
This isn't the first system bug that primarily was visible due to headspace: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/12/02/ios-11-1-2-date-bug-crash-loop/ https://www.macrumors.com/2017/12/02/ios-11-1-2-date-bug-cra... In 2017 it was an endless crash loop caused by any app with local time-based notifications.... Which for almost everyone at the Apple store I visited was meditation apps with daily meditation reminders (in Australia we were among the first to wake up on that affected date. The fix went out before most of the remaining world woke up) I wonder if the daily reminder is triggering a reinstall? Perhaps try disabling the reminders before uninstalling.
- wolvoleo 5mo ago
  For an app that's supposed to help people relax it can certainly cause a lot of stress. Ps I have access to a subscription through my Revolut card but I don't find it very compelling. I much rather use plain nature sounds through the FOSS moodist web app. https://moodist.mvze.net/ https://moodist.mvze.net/ (self hostable in docker too) But guided meditations aren't my thing.
nottorp 5mo ago
Meanwhile, I can't install an iOS game i bought in 2021 (Azure Saga if it matters) because it's delisted from the app store. Damned if you pay them, damned if you don't.
- forsalebypwner 5mo ago
  Took me a minute but I found it https://archive.org/download/iklassika_archive/AzureSagaPathfinderv1.0.22.ipa https://archive.org/download/iklassika_archive/AzureSagaPath...
  - nottorp 5mo ago
    Probably requires a jailbroken ipad? I'll take it as a lesson to not even look at games on iOS [1]. I added it to my wish list on Steam, i might get it on a sale. [1] Not that iOS has many games. I can't afford the free ones.
    - forsalebypwner 5mo ago
      No jailbreak required, just sideload it with a tool like Sideloadly. There are plenty of games, but it's understandable if you don't want to support Apple's practices.
      - lbourdages 5mo ago
        Didn't know that tool existed, thanks for that! I assume it's using the development features in order to bypass protections?
        nottorp 5mo ago
        Yep, there's some mention of automatically resigning the apps every 10 days so it's definitely using the dev tools.
      - NoMoreNicksLeft 5mo ago
        Holy fucksticks. Does this really work? I could get back Marvin 3 on my phone...
3vo-ai 5mo ago
[dead]
visiondude 5mo ago
My hypothesis is that headspace registered many user notifications and since user notifications trigger an app launch and perhaps you have optimize storage by offloading apps enabled? ios has a quirky app state where some local data exists but the app itself (ipa package) is offloaded
- threecheese 5mo ago
  This is the most interesting idea imo; do you think it’s testable? For example: allow the installed app to persist, turn on notifications, do some stuff to let a queue drain. Then remove.
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  Agreed, this is an interesting idea. I just checked and offloading unused apps is disabled on my phone
  - codezero 5mo ago
    I wonder if this app is also an “app clip” - the small size applets that can bypass download size restrictions (and maybe, because of that, other restrictions). How big is the installed size, and can you go to settings and delete app data before deleting the app? You may also check to see if it’s installed on other devices connected to your iCloud account or if you have any devices you never disconnected including Apple Watch as they have a watch app. My wife works for macrumors and she once found an incomprehensible HomeKit bug and we had an Apple engineer come to our house to diagnose (we lived nearby to Cupertino) It turned out to be a bug in the legacy HomeKit after upgrading on the backend. Totally opaque to the end user.
- lwhi 5mo ago
  In which case, perhaps the app doesn't correctly remove notifications on delete which would mean Headspace could be to blame?
  - sandoze 5mo ago
    There’s no indication to the developer or app when a deletion happens. We rely on the OS to clean it up.
derefr 5mo 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.)
saidnooneever 5mo ago
i dont know whats up, id assume bug but i wanna say iphone is uniquely annoying to find out what is happening on it and why things happen. they make it especially tedious and that makes it much easier to think this kind of stuff is nefarious even if ut might not be
serial_dev 5mo ago
Just a theory, I give it about 0.001%. What if it’s the U2 Bono of the apps? Apple struck a partnership with them, they will roll it out as part of their OS, everyone will get some version of it for free? Some dev at Apple is testing the auto rollout feature, they didn’t realize it was for production?
- jonplackett 5mo ago
  Yesterday I put my AirPod in and squeezed it, expecting Spotify to play - but it must have quit, and instead my mac opened up Music - and that album was STILL there and started to play. How many years has it been?
pando85 5mo ago
[dead]
orf 5mo 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.
jgrahamc 5mo ago
Same here. I had installed Headspace long ago and deleted it. It's now reappearing if I delete it.
dvh 5mo ago
This is clearly bug in "automatic updates are turned off" feature, and the fix should be made there.
saagarjha 5mo ago
If you can take a sysdiagnose I’m sure it will have the answer in it. If you want to send me one (note: may contain sensitive information) feel free to contact me or any other person you trust who is familiar with iOS stuff?
tokenhub_dev 5mo ago
[dead]
userbinator 5mo ago
Now you understand how it feels to be reminded that the device you "bought" from Apple isn't actually yours as they still have control over it, and if they decide to do something you don't want, you're powerless to stop them.
agentbc9000 5mo ago
[flagged]
bobkb 5mo ago
You had previously installed this application?
Dumblydorr 5mo ago
The irony of a meditation mindfulness app becoming a zombie and annoying and distracting thousands of people is palpable. I don’t use the app but it sounds completely off brand!
hmokiguess 5mo ago
Now imagine if they added some AI feature and it’s trying to escape
nunez 5mo ago
I'm wondering if this has something to do with the iOS Storage Offloading feature, wherein an app that looks like is uninstalled is just offloaded. This would explain why some users see the app in gray waiting to be downloaded.
sfc32 5mo ago
Sounds like it's messing with your head.
gcr 5mo ago
Do you have any MDM profiles installed? Go to Settings → General → VPN And Device Management. If you use your phone for work your employer may have asked you to install one, but check anyway. MDM profiles can specify apps to be installed automatically. Also, is developer mode enabled?
walrus01 5mo ago
Maybe Bono is a major new shareholder in Headspace.
caycep 5mo ago
for an app called headspace, it really is messing with your headspace!
darepublic 5mo ago
Instead of screaming eff you at Headspace, recognize the deep unconsciousness at work in our capitalist technocratic world
gordon_freeman 5mo ago
sometimes if you have downloaded an app on Mac it automatically tries to install itself on iPhone due to some settings somewhere. Not saying that's the case with your app but I've noticed that with apps being installed on my iPhone when I install some apps on my Mac.
nostromar 5mo ago
This was happening for me also. 3-4 days in a row it would reinstall in the evening. I’m on a new iPhone that never had the app installed. Automatic downloads wasn’t on, etc. finally noticed that signing out of “Media & Purchases” and then signing in again would make it install almost immediately. Could reliably repeat this any time of day. At one point I preempted the install by long pressing on the Headspace icon and selecting “Cancel Download”. It disappeared and hasn’t been back since.
Zambyte 5mo ago
Don't people pay extra for Apple devices so they can go to Apple with their problems? Go to Apple...?
OptionOfT 5mo ago
I had a related issue. I had an iPhone, then work offered iPhones, and I (stupidly) did not separate the phones or the accounts. So personal stuff on work phone. It's Apple, It's supposed to be good. MDM removal should completely remove work stuff from the image right? Well, not so much. I had a non-removeable TMobileWingman WiFi network (even though I moved to Verizon) configuration, a stuck VPN configuration and a couple of shortcuts that I couldn't remove. Eventually I fixed it by taking a backup, going through it with iMaze, and basically try to nuke stuff, and then restore the backup, hoping it work. Quite insane how much stuff is left around in your iPhone backup by the way.
souterrain 5mo ago
Anyone know when Apple's acquisition of Headspace is closing?
leke 5mo ago
The power of meditation :P
Vasbarlog 5mo ago
My gf has exactly the same issue with headspace on her iPhone 12.
ubermonkey 5mo ago
Did you, at any point, download Headspace? Apple's ecosystem allows a user to buy a phone and restore their last backup to a new phone via iCloud. This would include application installation and even sign-in. I wonder if it's tied to something hinky with your Apple account and not Headspace specifically.
reilly3000 5mo ago
My parent company offers Headspace as an employee benefit. My phone doesn’t have any MDM so in theory it should stay deleted after I just deleted it. I suspect that an MDM policy could be triggering these installs. That said, the other theories shared here seem more plausible.
wutwutwat 5mo ago
Everyone is chiming in with a "+1 me too" but I've yet to see a reply on a website filled with mostly engineers where anyone has taken any amount of time to do any debugging or probing. You can connect your iPhone to a Mac and get access to the logs. There will be a record of the app install and maybe/likely some info about how it was triggered or why it's being reinstalled. The tools are there. Use them. If it was happening to me I'd be watching logs and going to the Apple Store everyday until I knew what was happening.
daemin 5mo ago
I did have a similar thing happen to me a while ago, though it was on Android. My work used gmail for email at the time and so I added the account to my phone in order to check work email. Then I kept seeing applications installed on my device which I did not install. I uninstalled them but they kept coming back, and eventually I traced it to them being associated with my work account. IT said that they shouldn't have been installed on my device because I wasn't on some list, but they were, and they continued to be reinstalled every so often. So I did the only sensible thing and got rid of the work account and email from my phone.
anas-cyber-net 5mo ago
[dead]

593 points by _-x-_ 5mo ago

psynixx 5mo ago

I’ve been getting this too, same app same behaviour… Anyone been able to figure out what is causing this?

_-x-_ 5mo ago
Have you downloaded the app before?

throwaway5465 5mo ago

Maybe a competitor is trying to FUD them?

_-x-_ 5mo ago
I would imagine that this isn't (or at least shouldn't be) possible based on Apple's security. The app is automatically downloading to my phone without my permission.
deleted 5mo ago
[deleted]

k310 5mo ago

Did you ever install it, or Ginger? An app store search also turned up "Headspace Care" (Ginger) Ginger is now Headspace Care It would be beyond malware for an app to install itself, since there's that app store hurdle to leap. (IMO)

_-x-_ 5mo ago
I installed the app in March of last year, and then deleted it the same day because I didn't want to pay for the subscription

mandeepj 5mo ago

How did you find that? Any notification?

_-x-_ 5mo ago
It just appears on my homescreen

rglover 5mo ago

If you've ever installed any companion app on your desktop macOS, your phone will try to sync apps (I think the same with Apple TV). Caught me off guard a few times.

_-x-_ 5mo ago
No, I've never downloaded it on my desktop. It appears that I downloaded it onto my phone over a year ago (I got an email in my inbox), but didn't want to pay for it so I deleted it.

janstice 5mo ago

Is your phone connected to some work mobile device management? I could imagine someone has a jinxed Jamf or intune rule that is pushing things out.

_-x-_ 5mo ago
No, this is my personal device. It has never been connected to any MDM.
- Schiendelman 5mo ago
  Have you actually checked your device management settings?
  - teruakohatu 5mo ago
    Yes, there are alt app stores that try to get you to agree to installing a MDM
  - _-x-_ 5mo ago
    Yes. In Settings > General > VPN & Device Management, it says 'Sign in to Work or School Account'. Is there a different device management setting that I should be looking at?
    - Schiendelman 5mo ago
      That's the one. I was worried you might have something you didn't know about!

deleted 5mo ago

[deleted]

xinji-standard 5mo ago

[dead]

_-x-_ 5mo ago

Here's a Reddit thread of other people experiencing the same issue: https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1su82sc/headspace_app_keeps_getting_installed/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ios/comments/1su82sc/headspace_app_...

Bjartr 5mo ago
Based on that I'd guess either a meditation app company has figured out how to circumvent a lot of controls put in place by Apple, or it's a bug on Apple's side
- _-x-_ 5mo ago
  Yeah, I think the latter is more likely than the former. Perhaps a server side bug that's silently downloading the app on any device that's installed it previously?
  - donkey_brains 5mo ago
    But why this one specific app and no others?
    - _-x-_ 5mo ago
      Right, that's what confuses me the most. I was very surprised to find the reddit thread showing that other people are also having this specific app silently installed on their devices.
      - dd8601fn 5mo ago
        Makes me think something got jacked up adding/removing things from promotional bundles with other apps. It shouldn’t do that, obviously, but headspace does seem like it’s one that bundles “free” with a bunch of health insurance, education, etc. From a debugging perspective, without having Apples information, I kinda want to know if all affected users have some related health or education apps.
    - 5mo ago

treexs 5mo ago

this is the plot of Persona 5

rootsudo 5mo ago
He can be the joker we need.
efilife 5mo ago
how heavy of a spoiler is this? I wanted to play it
- applfanboysbgon 5mo ago
  It's not really a spoiler. It is something that happens near the beginning of the game.
- diegoperini 5mo ago
  If I am not mistaken, it's even shown in the marketing materials to build suspense.
- makeitdouble 5mo ago
  It's covered in the first 10~20min or so of the game, and is really a minor side point. Off topic, put P5 as a game doesn't really care about spoilers much, there is one specific story telling gimmick that will screw with you if you're really sensitive to these kind of things.

lovich 5mo ago

[flagged]

lovich 5mo ago
[flagged]
- slater 5mo ago
  Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - lovich 5mo ago
    When this forum handles the bot and propaganda problem I might consider those rules. Currently we are inundated by accounts who don’t give a shit and make a new automatically 3 seconds after their flagging. As long as those accounts are allowed I don’t really care for the stated rules that aren’t actually enforced.
anon84873628 5mo ago
At least they're exposing their nefarious plans for the purposes of... Offering people mental healthcare? It's probably just some Apple bug.
- lovich 5mo ago
  Why did a mental healthcare company have the ability to exploit this? Do you think they accidentally found this 5 seconds before their exploit was launched or do you think they might have actually put some effort into doing this since they are an organization of people.
  - kennywinker 5mo ago
    I am pretty skeptical it’s intentional. Very risky move. If they make apple look bad they can say goodbye to getting featured in the app store, or could even get pulled from the store completely. I can see a fucked up ceo greenlighting a trick to get their app installed on your phone without asking. I can’t really see them having it repeatedly download. I suspect it’s a bug, or worst case a backdoor that’s been triggered with a commercial app instead of spyware accidentally or “accidentally”.

a34729t 5mo ago

I would call Apple support; you might even get an engineer call you back. I am sure they would love to know what the hell is going on.

yokuze 5mo ago

Do you have Settings > Apps > App Store > (Automatic Downloads) App Downloads turned on? I noticed apps appearing on my Home Screen I’d never heard of before. Turns out with that setting and Family Purchase sharing turned on, every time my wife installed a new app, it installed on my phone too. That may not be your exact scenario, but I wonder if turning off that Automatic App Downloads setting (if enabled) changes anything. Could give you a clue, if so.

_-x-_ 5mo ago
App Downloads and App Updates are both turned off. I don't have anyone else's devices on my account, just me. Thank you for the suggestions though!
- deleted 5mo ago
  [deleted]
- wallst07 5mo ago
  Even with auto downloads turned off, does it show up in your app library or as a purchased app? You can still have a app library with apps that "should be" downloaded, what happens if its removed from that list?
trinsic2 5mo ago
Speaking of which. Under Cellular Data There is a setting right below Automatic Downloads call "App Downloads". I wonder if that works independently of whether or not Automatic Downloads is off. The only options are: Always allow, ask if over 200mb and always ask.

COFyumo 5mo ago

I have the same exact thing happening. I deleted the app a few days ago when was surprised to see it in my app list. I had previously downloaded the app but and removed it because I never used it. A few days ago I noticed the app when browsing through my app list and thought maybe I didnt delete it properly, so I made sure to delete it. Then this morning my iPhone updated software versions and I found he Headpsace app again on my home, except this time it was grayed out and waiting for me to go on wifi to download. I just deleted it again but am equally dumbfounded

_-x-_ 5mo ago
That's interesting that it still showed up on your homescreen despite not being able to download

meloyc 5mo ago

jailbreak phone?

_-x-_ 5mo ago
Negative

bastawhiz 5mo ago

Do you have MDM enabled on your device? Does your company offer Headspace as a perk and some arcane set of sketchy business agreements led to auto install policy in your company's MDM solution?

_-x-_ 5mo ago
No MDM installed

1659447091 5mo ago

Do you use iCloud drive? This might be a stretch as I am taking a guess at the implementation, but apps can sync with iCloud Drive and I keep getting app folders showing up after telling it not sync but the prefs reset after certain states(not quite sure when/how)-- it then creates a new sync folder when interacting with the app again. (after having turned off sync and deleting the folder -- once it resets) I am wondering if that app had that feature (icloud drive syncing) and something of the reverse is happening. Where you have a document still on icloud drive from when you installed the app. Maybe there is some action or state change going on after interacting with drive on a mac or something similar. And now it's created the right circumstances for icloud drive to try and sync the file but there is no app on any device so it downloads the app instead since it's missing and there is some dangling file looking for its home.

_-x-_ 5mo ago
It still doesn't make sense why the app started silently downloading itself 3 days ago when I haven't had it installed in over a year. I do use iCloud drive but do not see anything related to the app inside of it.
- 1659447091 5mo ago
  Did you update iOS before it started happening? Wondering if they may have introduced a regression that is now trying to re-sync everything after the last update (sync files may be hidden, I set files to always show)
  - _-x-_ 5mo ago
    I updated after noticing the issue

DavideNL 5mo ago

@_-x-_: "Settings > App Store > Show Install Confirmations > On". Maybe that helps?

garyfirestorm 5mo ago
This setting does not exist on iOS 26.4.1
- DavideNL 5mo ago
  It should: - https://old.reddit.com/r/iPadOS/comments/1prkpaq/can_i_turn_off_this_popup_every_time_i_download/ https://old.reddit.com/r/iPadOS/comments/1prkpaq/can_i_turn_... - https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fl9gh20q6hk8g1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1179%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Da4ede1daea919ed21db8d6c275acd8a45d83c923 https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd....
  - parker-3461 5mo ago
    I just checked that I could see it in the Settings App search bar, but it does not show up under the actual App Store settings page, might be an implementation bug related to user region. Edit 1: this was on iPadOS 26.3.1 (a) (23D771330a)

altairprime 5mo ago

The iOS reviews for the app also confirm this story affecting others.

julianozen 5mo ago
Looks like something was deployed Thursday evening. My bet is it’s some kind of test configuration for the App Store itself that just happened to pick headspace and it’s rolled into prod by accident

aaronbrethorst 5mo ago

I wonder if U2, or Bono, has taken a significant stake in Headspace recently (kidding).

edbaskerville 5mo ago
Deep cut
- swiftcoder 5mo ago
  Jesus, I hope not. That happened just a few years ago... right?
  - stingraycharles 5mo ago
    Wasn’t that around the release of the iPhone X?
    - kaelwd 5mo ago
      iPhone X? That came out this year didn't it?
      - hnlmorg 5mo ago
        No, you’re thinking of the iPad Touch
        ukuina 5mo ago
        I'm pretty sure it was last year, when the "no new features, bugfixes only" MacOS version was released.
  - dtech 5mo ago
    More than a decade ago
steve1977 5mo ago

con 5mo 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 5mo ago
Ever had it installed before? I wonder if that's a pattern.
- con 5mo ago
  I did
- DANmode 5mo ago
  Definitely the strongest pattern.
HoldOnAMinute 5mo ago
I have never installed it, and currently don't have it installed.

NetOpWibby 5mo ago

_Severance intensifies_

nkotov 5mo ago

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

ddxv 5mo ago

If anyone wants to browse some of the SDKs in headspace: https://appgoblin.info/apps/493145008/sdks https://appgoblin.info/apps/493145008/sdks I see normal development and tracking SDKs. If anyone sees something interesting let me know.

speedgoose 5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo 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 5mo ago

csomar 5mo ago

> Does anyone understand how or why this is happening? They are drowning in tech debt. Here are two main issues I have with my iPhone/iOS: I can't search for the telegram app. It doesn't show up. It shows fine on the iPad. Also just a few minutes ago, app search decided not to work. I usually use it to pull my Wallet to pull my card. It was an awkward moment as I had no idea where the wallet app actually is. I have lost count of the minor polish issues. The experience has degraded so much that you no longer care.

snailmailman 5mo ago
Regarding the telegram app I’d check iOS settings->apps->telegram->search and make sure “show app in search” is checked You can intentionally hide apps from search. If you did this, it’s not very obvious that its hidden from search unless you dig for the setting. Similarly, “hidden” apps refuse to show up in search results anywhere, even in settings.
- nathanwh 5mo ago
  Thank you for this, I have wondered for more than a year why Google Maps would not show up when I searched for it.
- csomar 5mo ago
  Thank you. I wonder how that happened as I was not aware such a feature existed.
  - pirates 5mo ago
    So then it’s not really any lack of polish or technical debt, just user error.

dagmx 5mo 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.

_-x-_ 5mo ago
I was on 26.3.X when it began happening, prior to updating

timothyisonline 5mo ago

Possible this is tied to your carrier?

snailmailman 5mo 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.
- tjoff 5mo ago
  What? Sounds like a US thing?
- burnt-resistor 5mo 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://www.wired.com/story/apple-russia-iphone-apps-law/ https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/03/after-apple-refusal-indian-government-completes-u-turn-on-mandatory-iphone-app/ https://9to5mac.com/2025/12/03/after-apple-refusal-indian-go...
  - waiwai933 5mo 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.

verisimi 5mo 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".

whilenot-dev 5mo 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.

_-x-_ 5mo ago
This appears to be a more widespread issue affecting users that have previously installed the app

bofia 5mo ago

Are other people using your phone?

_-x-_ 5mo ago
No

doncho 5mo ago

Very interesting, especially if it found a way to bypass the explicit disabling of automatic downloads… Now imagine you’re roaming during a 10-day vacation…and you think you’re in control :) …

bfbf 5mo ago

Do you have TestFlight installed? That’s the only other way I can think of delivering apps besides the App Store and MDM.

usef- 5mo ago

This isn't the first system bug that primarily was visible due to headspace: https://www.macrumors.com/2017/12/02/ios-11-1-2-date-bug-crash-loop/ https://www.macrumors.com/2017/12/02/ios-11-1-2-date-bug-cra... In 2017 it was an endless crash loop caused by any app with local time-based notifications.... Which for almost everyone at the Apple store I visited was meditation apps with daily meditation reminders (in Australia we were among the first to wake up on that affected date. The fix went out before most of the remaining world woke up) I wonder if the daily reminder is triggering a reinstall? Perhaps try disabling the reminders before uninstalling.

wolvoleo 5mo ago
For an app that's supposed to help people relax it can certainly cause a lot of stress. Ps I have access to a subscription through my Revolut card but I don't find it very compelling. I much rather use plain nature sounds through the FOSS moodist web app. https://moodist.mvze.net/ https://moodist.mvze.net/ (self hostable in docker too) But guided meditations aren't my thing.

nottorp 5mo ago

Meanwhile, I can't install an iOS game i bought in 2021 (Azure Saga if it matters) because it's delisted from the app store. Damned if you pay them, damned if you don't.

forsalebypwner 5mo ago
Took me a minute but I found it https://archive.org/download/iklassika_archive/AzureSagaPathfinderv1.0.22.ipa https://archive.org/download/iklassika_archive/AzureSagaPath...
- nottorp 5mo ago
  Probably requires a jailbroken ipad? I'll take it as a lesson to not even look at games on iOS [1]. I added it to my wish list on Steam, i might get it on a sale. [1] Not that iOS has many games. I can't afford the free ones.
  - forsalebypwner 5mo ago
    No jailbreak required, just sideload it with a tool like Sideloadly. There are plenty of games, but it's understandable if you don't want to support Apple's practices.
    - lbourdages 5mo ago
      Didn't know that tool existed, thanks for that! I assume it's using the development features in order to bypass protections?
      - nottorp 5mo ago
        Yep, there's some mention of automatically resigning the apps every 10 days so it's definitely using the dev tools.
    - NoMoreNicksLeft 5mo ago
      Holy fucksticks. Does this really work? I could get back Marvin 3 on my phone...

3vo-ai 5mo ago

[dead]

visiondude 5mo ago

My hypothesis is that headspace registered many user notifications and since user notifications trigger an app launch and perhaps you have optimize storage by offloading apps enabled? ios has a quirky app state where some local data exists but the app itself (ipa package) is offloaded

threecheese 5mo ago
This is the most interesting idea imo; do you think it’s testable? For example: allow the installed app to persist, turn on notifications, do some stuff to let a queue drain. Then remove.
_-x-_ 5mo ago
Agreed, this is an interesting idea. I just checked and offloading unused apps is disabled on my phone
- codezero 5mo ago
  I wonder if this app is also an “app clip” - the small size applets that can bypass download size restrictions (and maybe, because of that, other restrictions). How big is the installed size, and can you go to settings and delete app data before deleting the app? You may also check to see if it’s installed on other devices connected to your iCloud account or if you have any devices you never disconnected including Apple Watch as they have a watch app. My wife works for macrumors and she once found an incomprehensible HomeKit bug and we had an Apple engineer come to our house to diagnose (we lived nearby to Cupertino) It turned out to be a bug in the legacy HomeKit after upgrading on the backend. Totally opaque to the end user.
lwhi 5mo ago
In which case, perhaps the app doesn't correctly remove notifications on delete which would mean Headspace could be to blame?
- sandoze 5mo ago
  There’s no indication to the developer or app when a deletion happens. We rely on the OS to clean it up.

derefr 5mo 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.)

saidnooneever 5mo ago

i dont know whats up, id assume bug but i wanna say iphone is uniquely annoying to find out what is happening on it and why things happen. they make it especially tedious and that makes it much easier to think this kind of stuff is nefarious even if ut might not be

serial_dev 5mo ago

Just a theory, I give it about 0.001%. What if it’s the U2 Bono of the apps? Apple struck a partnership with them, they will roll it out as part of their OS, everyone will get some version of it for free? Some dev at Apple is testing the auto rollout feature, they didn’t realize it was for production?

jonplackett 5mo ago
Yesterday I put my AirPod in and squeezed it, expecting Spotify to play - but it must have quit, and instead my mac opened up Music - and that album was STILL there and started to play. How many years has it been?

pando85 5mo ago

[dead]

orf 5mo 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.

jgrahamc 5mo ago

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

dvh 5mo ago

This is clearly bug in "automatic updates are turned off" feature, and the fix should be made there.

saagarjha 5mo ago

If you can take a sysdiagnose I’m sure it will have the answer in it. If you want to send me one (note: may contain sensitive information) feel free to contact me or any other person you trust who is familiar with iOS stuff?

tokenhub_dev 5mo ago

[dead]

userbinator 5mo ago

Now you understand how it feels to be reminded that the device you "bought" from Apple isn't actually yours as they still have control over it, and if they decide to do something you don't want, you're powerless to stop them.

agentbc9000 5mo ago

[flagged]

bobkb 5mo ago

You had previously installed this application?

Dumblydorr 5mo ago

The irony of a meditation mindfulness app becoming a zombie and annoying and distracting thousands of people is palpable. I don’t use the app but it sounds completely off brand!

hmokiguess 5mo ago

Now imagine if they added some AI feature and it’s trying to escape

nunez 5mo ago

I'm wondering if this has something to do with the iOS Storage Offloading feature, wherein an app that looks like is uninstalled is just offloaded. This would explain why some users see the app in gray waiting to be downloaded.

sfc32 5mo ago

Sounds like it's messing with your head.

gcr 5mo ago

Do you have any MDM profiles installed? Go to Settings → General → VPN And Device Management. If you use your phone for work your employer may have asked you to install one, but check anyway. MDM profiles can specify apps to be installed automatically. Also, is developer mode enabled?

walrus01 5mo ago

Maybe Bono is a major new shareholder in Headspace.

caycep 5mo ago

for an app called headspace, it really is messing with your headspace!

darepublic 5mo ago

Instead of screaming eff you at Headspace, recognize the deep unconsciousness at work in our capitalist technocratic world

gordon_freeman 5mo ago

sometimes if you have downloaded an app on Mac it automatically tries to install itself on iPhone due to some settings somewhere. Not saying that's the case with your app but I've noticed that with apps being installed on my iPhone when I install some apps on my Mac.

nostromar 5mo ago

This was happening for me also. 3-4 days in a row it would reinstall in the evening. I’m on a new iPhone that never had the app installed. Automatic downloads wasn’t on, etc. finally noticed that signing out of “Media & Purchases” and then signing in again would make it install almost immediately. Could reliably repeat this any time of day. At one point I preempted the install by long pressing on the Headspace icon and selecting “Cancel Download”. It disappeared and hasn’t been back since.

Zambyte 5mo ago

Don't people pay extra for Apple devices so they can go to Apple with their problems? Go to Apple...?

OptionOfT 5mo ago

I had a related issue. I had an iPhone, then work offered iPhones, and I (stupidly) did not separate the phones or the accounts. So personal stuff on work phone. It's Apple, It's supposed to be good. MDM removal should completely remove work stuff from the image right? Well, not so much. I had a non-removeable TMobileWingman WiFi network (even though I moved to Verizon) configuration, a stuck VPN configuration and a couple of shortcuts that I couldn't remove. Eventually I fixed it by taking a backup, going through it with iMaze, and basically try to nuke stuff, and then restore the backup, hoping it work. Quite insane how much stuff is left around in your iPhone backup by the way.

souterrain 5mo ago

Anyone know when Apple's acquisition of Headspace is closing?

leke 5mo ago

The power of meditation :P

Vasbarlog 5mo ago

My gf has exactly the same issue with headspace on her iPhone 12.

ubermonkey 5mo ago

Did you, at any point, download Headspace? Apple's ecosystem allows a user to buy a phone and restore their last backup to a new phone via iCloud. This would include application installation and even sign-in. I wonder if it's tied to something hinky with your Apple account and not Headspace specifically.

reilly3000 5mo ago

My parent company offers Headspace as an employee benefit. My phone doesn’t have any MDM so in theory it should stay deleted after I just deleted it. I suspect that an MDM policy could be triggering these installs. That said, the other theories shared here seem more plausible.

wutwutwat 5mo ago

Everyone is chiming in with a "+1 me too" but I've yet to see a reply on a website filled with mostly engineers where anyone has taken any amount of time to do any debugging or probing. You can connect your iPhone to a Mac and get access to the logs. There will be a record of the app install and maybe/likely some info about how it was triggered or why it's being reinstalled. The tools are there. Use them. If it was happening to me I'd be watching logs and going to the Apple Store everyday until I knew what was happening.

daemin 5mo ago

I did have a similar thing happen to me a while ago, though it was on Android. My work used gmail for email at the time and so I added the account to my phone in order to check work email. Then I kept seeing applications installed on my device which I did not install. I uninstalled them but they kept coming back, and eventually I traced it to them being associated with my work account. IT said that they shouldn't have been installed on my device because I wasn't on some list, but they were, and they continued to be reinstalled every so often. So I did the only sensible thing and got rid of the work account and email from my phone.

anas-cyber-net 5mo ago

[dead]