Apple has restored Facebook and Google's ability to install employee-only apps on its iPhones and iPads, after blocking them earlier this week.

In both cases, losing their enterprise certificates seemingly affected only internal apps, and not consumer-facing ones. This further clears that Apple will soon restore the search giant's enterprise development certificate.

That's because those features run on Facebook's internal, custom-built iPhone apps - and Apple had shut them all down, according to nine current and former employees of the companies, who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone did not immediately respond to other questions.

This means that employee only apps and pre-release versions of Gmail, Google Maps and more no longer work at Google.

If Apple was unhappy with companies distributing apps developed under enterprise certificates to users outside of the enterprises, there would come the positive side of the issues, i.e. related how Apple implements the rule.

"Some said they would have to wait weeks to get app updates or changes approved through Apple's App Store". It was using its enterprise access to distribute a market research app.

Reports surfacing late on Thursday evening said that the functionality of some internal Google iOS apps had been restored, following close work alongside Apple.

February 2018: Facebook quietly inserts a "Protect" link into its iOS app, which leads to a free app called Onavo Protect, a VPN owned by Facebook. This app is completely voluntary and always has been. The program is intended for companies to distribute in-house apps among employees, and by using it to deliver apps to the public, Facebook broke Apple's rules. In Google's statement, the company admits that there has been "a temporary disruption", seemingly confirming the rumor is true. When this was reported earlier this week by TechCrunch, both companies stopped the activity. In response to the scrutiny, Google pulled the app and apologized.

They're likely to cause a certain amount of chaos at Google, too.

In a statement to the New York Times' Mike Isaac, Facebook confirmed that Facebook is now "in the process" of returning its internal apps to working order. Would that have happened-ever-for a smaller company?

Apple's moves this week to clamp down on policy violations come as the company itself hit the headlines on Tuesday (29 January), after a major security flaw was unearthed in its FaceTime application, prompting NY governor Andrew Cuomo to issue a consumer alert, calling the bug an "egregious breach of privacy".