Privacy in App Store apps
In a report published in the prestigious US media The Washington Post , it is stated that some iOS applications use the background function of iOS , to send data to tracking companies on a regular basis.
Geoffrey Fowler, belonging to the aforementioned medium, joined the privacy firm Disconnect that carried out the study. Using specialized software, it has been shown that Geoffrey's iPhone had more than 5.400 hidden trackers within the apps. User data is tracked and shared with them.
Detected apps sent data such as email, phone number, IP address, and device location to third-party companies. This occurs when background app refresh is enabled. Below we explain how to avoid being tracked using this iOS function.
Which apps send information to third parties:
We were surprised to see the applications that use background updates to share our data with other companies.
Apps Geoffrey found to be tracking information about him and sending it to third parties (only while he was sleeping) include Microsoft OneDrive, Mint, Nike, Spotify, The Washington Post, The Weather Channel, DoorDash, Yelp and Citizen. The latter shared personal information in violation of his own privacy policy.
Only some apps appear in this report. The list of apps that can share user data with other companies can be much broader.
The journalist contacted the developers of the aforementioned apps. Yelp and Citizen reported that it was a bug, while Microsoft, Nike and Weather Channel said the trackers are used to improve the performance of their platforms. Mint said they are used by Adobe's marketing tracker to research how to display to its users.
The app of the media outlet that released this report, The Washington Post, comments that its trackers are used to ensure the operation of its platform's advertisements.
Spotify referred you to their privacy policy. There must be a section in it that specifies the use made of user data.
Apple's opinion about it:
Geoffrey also contacted the Cupertino company and this is what they told him about it:
“At Apple we do a lot to help users keep their data private. Apple hardware and software are designed to provide advanced security and privacy at all levels of the system. For data and services that apps create on their own, our App Store Guidelines require developers to have clearly posted privacy policies and ask users for permission to collect data before doing so. When we learn that apps have not followed our guidelines in these areas, we either make them change their practice or remove them from the store.”
How to prevent apps from tracking your data:
We have always said it. Apart from saving a lot of battery, having background updates activated is not very useful unless your work or personal activity needs to have it activated.
That's why to avoid this tracking of your data by some apps, the best thing you can do is disable background updates.
Greetings.
