Apps Are Using Background App Refresh To Send Data To Tracking Companies

[RAMROD 117,898]

The Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler teamed up with privacy firm Disconnect and used specialized software to see what his iPhone was doing and when. And while it's no surprise that apps are using trackers and sharing user data, the frequency with which apps took advantage of background refresh to send data off to tracking companies is surprising, as is some of the data shared. 

Fowler found that apps were sending data like phone number, email, location, IP address, and more.

On a recent Monday night, a dozen marketing companies, research firms and other personal data guzzlers got reports from my iPhone. At 11:43 p.m., a company called Amplitude learned my phone number, email and exact location. At 3:58 a.m., another called Appboy got a digital fingerprint of my phone. At 6:25 a.m., a tracker called Demdex received a way to identify my phone and sent back a list of other trackers to pair up with.

Apps that were found passing data along included Microsoft OneDrive, Mint, Nike, Spotify, The Weather Channel, DoorDash, Yelp, Citizen, and even The Washington Post's own iOS app. Citizen shared personally identifiable information that violated its privacy policy (the tracker was later removed), and Yelp was sending data every five minutes, something the company later said was a bug. 

During the course of a week of testing, Fowler ran into 5,400 trackers, mostly found within apps, which Disconnect told him would likely send 1.5 gigabytes of data over the course of a month. 

Trackers within apps, for those unfamiliar, serve different purposes. Some analyze user behavior to let apps streamline advertising campaigns, combat fraud, or create targeted ads. Delivery app DoorDash, for example, was found using a whopping nine trackers in its apps, sharing data like device name, ad identifier, accelerometer data, delivery address, name, email, and cellular phone carrier. 

DoorDash also has trackers from Facebook and Google Ad Services, which means Facebook and DoorDash are notified whenever you're using the DoorDash service. DoorDash is not alone in sending tracking data, nor are the apps listed above - using tracking information is standard practice - but most people aren't aware that it's happening. 

Not all data collection is bad, such as when it's anonymized and stored for a limited period of time, but some trackers are collecting specific user information and don't provide clear information on how long that data is stored nor who it's shared with. 

iOS users concerned about the data apps are sending, especially at night and without user knowledge, can turn off Background App Refresh in the Settings app and can use a VPN to limit the data apps are able to send to third-party sources.

 

 

SOURCES:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/05/28/its-middle-night-do-you-know-who-your-iphone-is-talking/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5e2d200fcc45

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2019/05/28/background-refresh-apps-sending-data/

 

 

 

Well..., are you sure you're safe in your own home now?? Take all security measures seriously, fam. 

 

[brownie 5]

Turn off your background refresh guys!

and when browsing the internet, use ad blockers and a vpn. A free browser like Opera is amazing and will add layers of privacy!

[RAMROD 117,898]

12 minutes ago, brownie said:

Turn off your background refresh guys!

and when browsing the internet, use ad blockers and a vpn. A free browser like Opera is amazing and will add layers of privacy!

I checked mine and realized I never have turned it on. I was pleased and relieved with myself

[Mikolaj 11,640]

Just now, brownie said:

Turn off your background refresh guys!

and when browsing the internet, use ad blockers and a vpn. A free browser like Opera is amazing and will add layers of privacy!

Just now, RAMROD said:

I checked mine and realized I never have turned it on. I was pleased and relieved with myself

I'm a regular Opera user and it's a big tradeoff between VPN and browsing speed in my experience. When you look at some reviews, it's far from the best out there, if you want a secure, private browsing.

 

[LetsGetHigh 52,683]

Can't wait for Trump to ignore this and talk about Huawei. 

[brownie 5]

16 minutes ago, ExMachina said:

I'm a regular Opera user and it's a big tradeoff between VPN and browsing speed in my experience. When you look at some reviews, it's far from the best out there, if you want a secure, private browsing.

 

Really? With my opera adblocker on the vpn works great. Sometimes it’s a bit slow, but it’s never been an issue unless downloading. Then I just turn the vpn off while I download and turn it on while browsing.

[Jewels n Drugs 4,629]

I thought we all knew this tho

[Florian 20,017]

1 hour ago, brownie said:

Turn off your background refresh guys!

and when browsing the internet, use ad blockers and a vpn. A free browser like Opera is amazing and will add layers of privacy!

You don't want to be that guy that uses adblockers... Unless you're in for a paying Internet

[GhettoFabulous 18,501]

 

[iAstroLeo 14,459]

[brownie 5]

49 minutes ago, Florian said:

You don't want to be that guy that uses adblockers... Unless you're in for a paying Internet

I turn it off for sites I respect! I use it on about 90% of sites though since way too many sites use tracked ads or pop-ups or generally clutter their pages with ads. Sites that have great content and minimally invasive ads get whitelisted. Sites with egregious popups and ads that slow the webpage down? Nope, I don’t feel bad. That’s sadly like most sites now though. 

[homomo 23,883]

Y’all Americans need some of the European GDPR 

[Rio 5,088]

Waste of battery, never had it switched on. Everyone should have it off, because the feature barely does anything anyway. Now it’s also a breach of privacy. 😐👀

[imnotyourbabe10 6,120]

Late stage capitalism is a continuous clusterf**k

On topic, though, I've seen people talk about VPNs and other browsers -- is that just something we can download?  I'm not even thirty and suck at technology