(Yicai) Nov. 14 -- Apple has told leading mobile phone apps to disable the motion detection function that triggers in-app advertising, according to Chinese media reports. The move by the US tech giant follows action by Chinese regulators to rein in the feature.

Since the start of this month, Apple has contacted leading mobile apps to require them to stop accessing the iPhone’s augular velocity sensors, thereby switching off the motion detection function, financial news portal Tfcaijing reported yesterday. Motion detection leads to ads popping up on apps when the handset is moved in a certain way.

Yicai was in touch today with a number of mobile app operators, such as Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall, e-retailers JD.Com, and Pinduoduo as well as short-video platforms Douyin and Kuaishou, but none said they had received such a notification from Apple. Cupertino-based Apple has also not confirmed the reports.

App operators have long used motion detectors to trigger adverts. It can infuriate phone users who find the ads hard to delete and very distracting. This practice increased during the recent Double-11 shopping carnival, leading to many complaints.

Chinese regulators have started to clamp down on this coercive behavior. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in February that developers of internet-based ads should not disturb people’s use of their phones with frequent pop-up ads nor entice people to touch the screen in such a way that it will prompt the appearance of more ads.

Last December, the MIIT’s China Academy of Information and Communications Technology linked arms with handset makers and app developers such as Huawei Technologies and Alibaba to develop criteria for motion detection and curb overuse of the feature. They determined that an acceleration of not less than 15 meters squared per second, a rotation of more than 35 degrees, and a user duration of at least three seconds are acceptable.

If Apple aims to improve the user experience by banning this function, it should do as the regulators suggest and find a balance between the industry’s development and safeguarding users’ rights and interests, which means a “one-size-fits-all strategy” cannot be adopted, said Wang Shui, dean of advertising studies at Capital University of Economics and Business.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Kim Taylor