Apple has written data protection in big letters on its flags. Every operating system tries to protect your data as best as possible, but some apps circumvent this in a tricky way. We would like to introduce you to some "bad" apps.
The popular messenger has been under criticism not just since the new privacy policies, which at this point have been put on hold until further notice. The Facebook subsidiary has long been considered our apps that sometimes know your most personal information. Check out alternatives like Signal or Threema.
In late 2020, Facebook rebelled when Apple announced the app tracking feature to allow users: ins to choose whether or not to be tracked across multiple apps. The company felt its advertising revenue was in jeopardy. That's because every time you open the app, it learns the latest news about you and can thus shower you with even more targeted advertising. By the way, the Facebook app also collects data when you are not actively using it.
Flashlight apps
Hand on heart, what do you need a flashlight app for on your iPhone? Apple has built the feature right into the system, and it can be activated both on the lock screen and from the control panel. As the website Wired reports, many of these apps have the purpose of fishing for your data.
Weather apps
Of course, Apple's weather app isn't perfect, but it's getting better with the gradual integration of Dark Sky. Nevertheless, there are many weather apps in the App Store that want to inform you about the current situation and collect your data at the same time. This includes names, ages as well as locations. In the meantime, the precise location can be replaced by a piece of approximate information, but your data is still not much safer.
Google Maps
It's hard to say, but Google Maps is also a real data octopus, which is also the best map app on the market. As the name suggests, the app comes from Google. This means that the company not only knows what you're doing and searching on the internet but also when you're moving where. If you are logged in, Google can link your data in the best possible way and create an even better advertising profile for you.
Free-to-play games
Free-to-play games are tempting. With their mechanics, they not only want to extract money from your pocket for in-game content, but they also like to go after your data to turn it into money with partners. To put it briefly, nothing is really free. In most free-to-play titles, you pay unnoticed with your data.
Delivery services
During the pandemic, delivery services experienced a particular boom, as restaurants were closed and many people spent time in quarantine. So ordering food quickly was a natural choice. However, the apps also learn a lot about you. In addition to addresses, location, phone number, email address, and payment data, some providers also collect usage data by tracking you across apps. They also help to show you targeted advertising.
There are people who voluntarily share their lunch, their clothes, their vacations, and much more with the whole world on social media. This makes people more and more transparent and traceable. Many others, therefore, stay away from such portals in the hope that third parties will have little insight into personal areas. Apple supports this approach by equipping iOS and the other operating systems with protective measures. With almost every update, new intelligent solutions are added to prevent unwanted tracking. Apple writes about this:
Privacy is a fundamental right. And privacy is one of Apple's core values. Your devices are important to you in so many ways. Which of your experiences you share, and with whom, should be entirely up to you.
Data in the wrong hands
Your data is not only valuable to you, but also to third parties. It can be used to create a comprehensive profile of you and then present you with ads for products that are likely to interest you. Advertisers thus increase the sales potential. It also allows social networks to make better suggestions based on your preferences, hobbies, or regular locations, for example. Of course, this has the advantage that you see personalized content, but at the same time, advertisers are rubbing their hands in the background because they can contact you specifically.
With features like intelligent tracking protection, Apple wants to cover your footprints or make them anonymous. Meanwhile, the new privacy report should show you how many trackers are active on the websites you visit, so you can actively avoid them in the future. Since iOS 14.5, app tracking can also be prevented, as otherwise certain apps can track you through other apps to websites and thus know your activities. So you can see that Apple has its hands full to prevent dangers. You can help by avoiding certain apps.
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