Dozens of iPhone apps sell unsolicited location data. Very popular software for your smartphone behaves absolutely not reputable. IT specialists have now found that tens of apps not only use your location data for their own purposes, but also sell and redistribute it for money.
IT specialists have now discovered that a few popular apps on the App Store can share your location information with manufacturers exchange that they pay for it. These apps are also offered in Europe, but are likely in this country violate the General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR).
Because you know where you are
Would you mind if your residence data earned money? Maybe. Because even if you know it, sometimes you allow apps access to your location data. Their operators earn money directly or indirectly with the additional information. But the apps also provide you with added value, which usually only works through the evaluation of the location data. One such example is Pokémon GO. If the app could not access your location, they would not be able to catch pocket monsters.
Apps with Flavors
But now IT specialists have identified two dozen apps sharing their location data with third parties and apparently receiving money for it , It’s just that you do not know about it.
The data that some companies collect and share is, for example, Bluetooth beacon data, GPS coordinates, and the SSID and BSSID of networks you are logged in to. That too is basically not reprehensible. Mobile service providers and Apple’s iOS 12 also use some of the data to offer mobile telephony over Wi-Fi. However, against the background of passing on to third parties for money, the behavior is in any case frivolous.
Information-hungry Apps
The apps we talk about collect, in part, much more information. They read the data from the accelerometer, know the battery status of their smartphone or know if it is charging. You also know the network name of your mobile service provider and even store data “when” where you stopped “where.”
Statistics tool or data octopus?
Now Guardian App’s IT people uncovered that at least 24 apps, but probably many more to rely on third-party statistics tools in their apps. In some cases, some vendors even use the SDKs several vendors that are known to monetize location data.
They are unaware of this and are not asked if “third parties” are allowed to evaluate their location data at all. This is one reason why the EU legally enforced the GDPR in May to prevent it.
The following apps have been researched and identified by IT forensics as “requesting information.”
- ASKfm: Ask Anonymous Questions
- C25K 5K Trainer
- Classifieds 2.0 Marketplace
- Code Scanner by ScanLife
- Coupon Sherpa
- GasBuddy
- Homes.com
- Mobility Day
- Moco – Chat, Meet People
- My Aurora Forecast
- MyRadar NOAA Weather Radar
- NOAA Weather Radar
- PayByPhone Parking
- Perfect365 (Tracking now removed)
- Photobucket
- QuakeFeed Earthquake Alerts
- Roadtrippers
- ScoutLook Hunting
- SnipSnap Coupon App
- Tapatalk
- The Coupons App
- Tune
- Weather Live – Local Forecast
- YouMail: Voicemail Upgrade