These apps are the worst of the worst when it comes to leaking your data ‣ Diverse Daily

Summary

These days, some mobile apps are particularly user-data-hungry.
Social media apps are generally regarded to be the worst offenders, but they’re not the only ones.
Here are three app categories that have shoddy privacy track records.

When compared to old-school computer programs from back in the day, modern and mobile-centric applications are built with many safeguards in place. Among other security and privacy features, phone and tablet apps offer sandboxing, system-level camera, microphone, and location permission systems, and, in the case of the iPhone, user control over third-party tracking requests.

Modern app store ecosystems, including the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Microsoft Store, all feature dedicated permissions and data access disclaimers across all software published on their storefronts. However, even with this being the case, many apps are considerably user-data-hungry. Some share data with third-parties, harvest analytics and telemetry, sell information to data brokers and advertisers, among other practices.

Some types of apps have been proven to be more invasive than others on the whole, as concluded by studies such as the one by Marin Marinčić, head of IT Infrastructure at Nsoft (via PCMag). Here are three overarching app categories that are notoriously zealous when it comes to collecting and sharing your personal data.

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The worst offenders of them all

Pocket-lint / Canva

Unsurprisingly, social media apps are particularly notorious for bad practices when it comes to user data and privacy. Meta alone, which owns Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads, has been embroiled in several privacy scandals in recent years. Other social media platforms, including Snapchat and LinkedIn, aren’t in the clear either, to say nothing of the alleged data privacy concerns of TikTok (which has had real-world geopolitical ramifications). By their very nature, social media services incentivize users to upload as much data as possible, and their free business models are sustained by targeted advertisements and data harvesting.

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2

Weather apps

Not all forecasters are created equal

Pocket-lint / Canva

On the surface, weather apps appear to be innocuous, but it’s worth keeping your guard up. While the majority of services are legitimate (and very solid, it must be said), there are also bad actors out there that attempt to game the system. Most users will readily grant location permissions to a weather app without thinking twice, as it makes sense within the context of tracking local forecasting conditions. When installing a new weather app, make sure to read user reviews, to identify the number of previous downloads, and to check its permission checklist ahead of hitting the download button. Better yet, you can check out Pocket-lint’s list of top weather apps.

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3

Dating apps

Love is on the line, and so is your data

Pocket-lint / Canva

Dating services have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, going from a niche tool used by few, to a mainstream and first-stop solution for almost everyone looking for romance. The likes of Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, and others have the potential to match you with the love of your life, but nothing comes without sacrifice. In the case of free dating apps, personal data from your profile is sometimes shared with third-parties, collected for analytic purposes, and used to provide targeted adverts. Some of these services offer privacy filters, but data collection, location tracking, and information harvesting are par for the course, with little transparency as to where your data is precisely ending up and to what capacity.