A growing rift between Facebook and Apple over privacy has grown even wider, after Facebook's virtual private network app Onavo was removed from the App Store for failing to comply with privacy guidelines on the App Store. Its removal on Wednesday (US time) was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

While Apple chief executive Tim Cook has been an outspoken critic of Facebook's philosophy toward privacy, this is the first time Apple's taken such an action against a Facebook app.

Onavo, an app designed to redirect web traffic to hide a person's true location, was also sending some information back to Facebook to reveal more about people's habits, according to the social network. The app can reveal what apps people use and how frequently people use them; information that Facebook used to study the popularity of apps. The company used Onavo's consumer behavior data to analyse whether it should purchase WhatsApp, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Facebook in a statement said that it's been transparent about the way Onavo processes data. "We've always been clear when people download Onavo about the information that is collected and how it is used. As a developer on Apple's platform we follow the rules they've put in place."

Facebook declined to comment on whether it would retool the app, which it bought for $US150 million ($207 million) in 2013, and submit it to Apple again.