The tough news
If you didn’t already know this, I’m going to break it to you right away: every app you have on your phone is collecting data from you. Granted, some more than others. Some way, way, more than others (coughcough tiktok cough). From precise location data that can tell the company (or person) that owns the app exactly what room you’re standing in in your house at any given time, to what you googled that day, to how fast you drive (based on GPS data), apps can scrape a lot of information about us from our phones and ping it back to wherever they darn well please. ET phones home very, very often in the app world…
The better news
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that I believe that privacy needs to be practical. I’m going to use a cell phone. I’m going to install apps. They are useful to me, and I am willing to tolerate the data tradeoffs for certain apps.
How do I make that decision, you ask? Well, knowing what data an app collects doesn’t need to be a mystery. When a person or company publishes an app, they are required to list the data it captures.
I have to point out a negative, though. This data is all self-reported. There is no check from Apple (or Google, if you’re an Android user) that “yes, indeed, Bytedance (in the screenshot above), collects and transmits X, Y, and Z.” I wish there was a check here, and so far the only one I’ve seen doing any kind of third party due diligence is Mozilla with their “Privacy Not Included” work. Testing what an app is gathering about you, and where it is being sent, is not something that your average person is equipped to do. You’d need to analyze the traffic, potentially their source code, and even if you could do those things, a lot of the data may be encrypted, so you couldn’t tell what it was really sending. Blergh.
BUT…let’s pretend like we can trust self-reporting. It’s the best we have right now.
Steps to find out what data is being tracked:
Find app in the app store
Scroll down to “App Privacy” section
Click “See Details” + read them
Click “View developer privacy policy” + read it
For some reading that will probably both put you to sleep and horrify you, just read the developer privacy policy for CapCut, a video editor. This sentence raises a big 🚩 to me
We may share your information with business partners and service providers who help us deliver the Platform, send notifications to you, or conduct analysis.
Ok, cool, so now all of this is not only being shared with Bytedance (the publisher of the app) but also with “business partners” and “service providers”. 😒
If you want another example, check out this reel I did where I looked at an innocent looking “motivational quotes” app and what it is collecting about your behind the scenes.
What should I do about it?
If you look at what data an app collects about you before you download and install it, then you’re ahead of 95% of the people out there. And I shall award you…PRIVACY POINTS 🌠🏆.
No, but really, be aware of what you’re giving to a company when you install their app. And decide if using the app is worth it to you. Maybe it is - cool - I, too, have many apps installed on my phone. Maybe it’s not. That’s cool too, you are empowered now to make that decision! And maybe if it’s somewhere in between, you can install the app then uninstall it when you’re done using it.
App developers are required to disclose their data collection right in the app store. Next time, before you download an app, scroll down and view their privacy information. Remember, your data is worth protecting.
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