How to Tell If an App on Your Phone Is Violating Your Privacy (and How to Limit It)
If you have a smartphone and spend any time online, chances are that at least some of your personal data has been collected, shared, and sold at some point. Many of the apps you use every day are extremely invasive, but you don’t have to make it easy for companies and data brokers to get and use your information.
It’s no surprise that social media apps collect and share a significant amount of data, and apps from Google and MetaTrader are among the worst offenders. However, any category of app can interfere with data collection and use, according to Torin Klosowski, a security and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation .
For example, weather apps are notoriously shaky when it comes to privacy, and ad-supported games like Candy Crush Saga also collect a fair amount of data that can track your in-app activity and/or be shared with third-party advertisers. As Android Police points out , Uber Eats also tracks a lot more than you might expect.
Many apps require a certain amount of your personal data to function properly, but probably not as much as they collect by default.
Find out what data your apps collect
Before you download an app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, read the App Privacy with Apple and Data Security with Google information about what data the app collects and how it is used.
For example, Meta Messenger clearly states that it collects a huge amount of data for third-party advertising, developer advertising and marketing, analytics, product personalization, and “other purposes.” Meanwhile, Signal, which is much more privacy- and security-friendly , only collects your phone number for the app to function and does not share any data with third parties.
This also applies to your random, niche apps — flashlights, unit converters, guitar tuners, etc. — where you have a dozen or more options to choose from and no specific recommendations to guide you. Look for ones that explicitly state that they don’t sell data to third parties. In some cases, paying a few dollars for an ad-free app (instead of using the default free one) will give you extra privacy protection.
You can also check out the TOS of , which provides summaries of the terms of service and privacy policies for many companies and services, with ratings and specific items considered good, bad, and ugly.
Finally, do a little research to find out if the app you’re considering has been reviewed and recommended by privacy experts, or if there are known alternatives that are more privacy-focused.
How to Protect Your Privacy with Apps
If you’re going to use apps that collect a lot of data, try to limit their access as much as possible by removing permissions that aren’t necessary for the app to work. A good place to start is by sharing your location: you can turn off precise location sharing on both iOS and Android, or turn off location services entirely for individual apps. Even the Weather app doesn’t need access to your location—you can enter your zip code instead.
We have a guide to conducting a privacy audit on your iPhone, which includes stopping apps from tracking you. On Android, you can remove your advertising identifier . This will make it harder for third parties to track you.
Klosowski also advises auditing the apps on your device and removing anything you don’t need right now, such as apps downloaded for a one-time use (like a conference call) or built into your OS, like a compass or measuring tool. These apps may contain ads or otherwise collect data in the background for no apparent reason.
If you want to be especially vigilant about privacy, you can also consider alternatives to data-hungry apps, such as replacing Google Chrome with DuckDuckGo or using web services like Uber Eats.