Apple: from January 2017, applications in App Store can only use HTTPS connections

Apple has announced that, starting 1 January 2017, all applications in its App Store will need to have the App Transport Security (ATS) feature enabled. According to Techcrunch, ATS forces an application to connect to web services over an HTTPS connection, thus encrypting user data while in transit. At the moment, app developers can switch ATS off, allowing apps to send data over an unencrypted HTTP connection. From January next year, ATS will become mandatory for all apps submitted to the App Store.