With app privacy tags now available for many of the top apps in the App Store, pCloud earlier this month took a look at the most “invasive” apps that collect the most data from users.
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It won’t come as a surprise to many that Instagram and Facebook share most data with third-party advertisers, collecting information about purchases, location, contact details, user content, search history, browsing history, and more.
Instagram collects 79% of personal data, while Facebook collects 57%. LinkedIn and Uber Eats were also serious criminals, collecting 50% of the data. This study was conducted before Google shared the privacy tags of Google search apps and Chrome apps, but YouTube and YouTube Music collect 43% of their personal data to share with third parties.
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eBay, TikTok, Duolingo, Deliveroo and Trainline were all in the top 10 data collection apps, with Reddit, Snapchat, Spotify, Pandora, ESPN and CNN being the top 20.
Every time you search for a video on YouTube, 42% of your personal data is sent elsewhere. This data continues to inform the types of ads you will see before and during the videos, as well as to be sold to brands that will target you on other social platforms. Instagram shares 79% of your data, including browsing history and personal information, with others online.
YouTube is not the worst when it comes to selling your information. This award goes to Instagram, which shares a staggering 79% of your data with other companies. Including anything from the purchase of information, personal data and browsing history. No wonder there is so much promoted content in your feed.
With over 1 billion monthly active users, it’s worrying that Instagram is a hub for sharing such a large amount of data from users who don’t know.
Applications that collect data for use by third parties do so for targeting purposes, sharing information between different applications and websites. Apps also collect data to market their own products, with Facebook and Instagram again collecting the most data in this category.
At the other end of the spectrum, apps that don’t collect much data include Signal, Clubhouse, Netflix, Shazam, Etsy, Skype and Telegram.
Starting with the release of iOS 14.5, Apple will begin requiring apps that access a user’s ad identifier to track multiple apps and websites to obtain express permission before using it, which can help reduce data sharing from third parties.
Before downloading an app, it’s always a good idea to check the app’s privacy tag to see exactly what data is being collected, mainly in the “Data used to track you” and “Data related to you” sections, which include collected data. for third-party advertising and for your own developer’s advertising or marketing.