You Can’t Trust App Developers’ Privacy Claims on Google Play
55 years, 3 months ago

You Can’t Trust App Developers’ Privacy Claims on Google Play

Wired  

It's basically impossible to keep track of what all your mobile apps are doing and what data they share with whom and when. And a new study focused on the Data Safety information in Google Play indicates that the details developers are providing are often inaccurate. Researchers from the nonprofit software group Mozilla looked at the Data Safety information of Google Play's top 40 most-downloaded apps and rated these privacy disclosures as “poor,” “needs improvement,” or “OK.” The assessments were based on the degree to which the Data Safety information did or did not align with the information in each app's privacy policy. What’s more, a regular person reading it would most certainly walk away with a false sense of security.” Google mandates that all app developers submitting to Google Play complete the Data Safety form. “This report conflates company-wide privacy policies that are meant to cover a variety of products and services with individual Data Safety labels, which inform users about the data that a specific app collects,” the company says in a statement.

Safety Privacy Information Google Apps Google Play Mozilla Share Data Data Safety Trust App  developers  share  data  google  cant  apps  information  claims  trust  app  privacy  safety  play

History of this topic

Mozilla study finds Google Play Store data privacy labels to be false or misleading for most top apps
2 years, 1 month ago

Mozilla study finds Google Play Store data privacy labels to be false or misleading for most top apps

The Hindu  

Data privacy labels for most top apps in Google Play Store are false or misleading with discrepancies being reported in nearly 80% of the reviewed apps, a study conducted by Mozilla shared. Google Play Store’s Data Safety labels show that apps like Facebook or Twitter do not share users’ personal data with third parties, however, the app’s privacy policies explicitly …

Quarter of children’s apps on Google Play ‘do not comply with children’s code’
2 years, 1 month ago

Quarter of children’s apps on Google Play ‘do not comply with children’s code’

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy As many as one in four apps aimed at children on the Google …

Popular Android game app leaked sensitive user information, private conversations: Report
2 years, 1 month ago

Popular Android game app leaked sensitive user information, private conversations: Report

The Hindu  

A popular Android role-playing game, Tap Busters: Bounty Hunter, leaked sensitive user data including users’ private conversations, a report from Cybernews shared. The app which has over a million downloads on Google Play Store with a 4.5-star rating left its database open to the public, allegedly leaking users’ private conversations for over five months, the report shared. Developers also left …

Google Play Store Will Hide Permissions In App Listings, Makes Developers Responsible For Data Collection
2 years, 8 months ago

Google Play Store Will Hide Permissions In App Listings, Makes Developers Responsible For Data Collection

News 18  

Google is set to no longer show permissions it automatically gathers from apps on its Play Store, giving developers control over what they wish to disclose to users on data collection. The policy change has been seen in Google Play Store’s new Data Safety section, which is similar to Apple iOS 14 that displays a list of developer-given privacy considerations, …

Explained: Google's New Safety Section On Play Store That Shows What Data Apps Are Collecting
2 years, 11 months ago

Explained: Google's New Safety Section On Play Store That Shows What Data Apps Are Collecting

News 18  

Google is making things more safe for Android users on the Google Play Store. The company is finally rolling out the Safety Section on the Google Play Store that shows how each app collects and processes your data. Google’s new safety section is essentially an overview of what data an app collects and how it processes it. Google is calling …

Google Play starts displaying Apple App Store like app privacy labels
2 years, 11 months ago

Google Play starts displaying Apple App Store like app privacy labels

India Today  

Google Play Store will now reveal a lot more about the apps you download than just descriptions. The Play Store is rolling out the much-needed app privacy labels that reveal what an app is collecting from the users. People with iPhones are familiar with the new feature that Google is rolling out because the App Store started displaying app privacy …

Google Play Store to get app privacy briefings in Feb 2022
3 years, 5 months ago

Google Play Store to get app privacy briefings in Feb 2022

India TV News  

Google Play Store to get app privacy briefings in Feb 2022 The data section is supposed to give consumers a quick and simple overview of what apps are doing with their information. Google will soon be making sure that the data privacy section will be made available for all Play Store apps starting Feb 22. According to The Verge, the …

Google to add privacy labels to Play Store apps
3 years, 10 months ago

Google to add privacy labels to Play Store apps

The Hindu  

Like Apple, Google is planning to add a new safety section in Play Store that will show what data apps collect and store, and how they use it. The tech giant said in a blog post that, “We’re pre-announcing an upcoming safety section in Google Play that will help people understand the data an app collects or shares, if that …

Google Will Add Its Version of Privacy Labels to Play Store Listings; To Come Into Force in 2022
3 years, 10 months ago

Google Will Add Its Version of Privacy Labels to Play Store Listings; To Come Into Force in 2022

News 18  

Apple last year launched its App Privacy labels for app listings on the Apple App Store. Now, Apple?s rival Google is planning to follow the its footsteps and introduce a new Safety section that will show details about what data apps on the Google Play Store collect, as well as other information about their privacy and security practices. for the …

Apple's app privacy label feature questioned by U.S. House Committee
4 years, 1 month ago

Apple's app privacy label feature questioned by U.S. House Committee

The Hindu  

A U.S. House committee has asked Apple about the credibility and accuracy of its latest app privacy feature. "Simplifying and enhancing privacy disclosures is a laudable goal, but consumer trust in privacy labeling approaches may be undermined if Apple’s App Privacy labels disseminate false and misleading information," the House wrote in a letter to Apple chief Tim Cook. The committee’s …

Apple's new privacy feature to roll out by early spring
4 years, 2 months ago

Apple's new privacy feature to roll out by early spring

The Hindu  

Apple said, in a new report, it will start rolling out App Tracking Transparency feature by early spring, and that it will be enabled by default. "Under settings, users will be able to see which apps have requested permission to track so they can make changes as they see fit," Apple said in a new report titled 'A day in …

Apple to tighten app privacy, remove apps that don’t comply
4 years, 3 months ago

Apple to tighten app privacy, remove apps that don’t comply

Associated Press  

LONDON — Apple is stepping up privacy for app users, forcing developers to be more transparent about data collection and warning they could be removed if they don’t comply with a new anti-tracking measure, a company executive and regulators said Tuesday. The U.S. tech giant said it’s set to roll out the anti-tracking feature next year and warned it could …

Apple asks app developers to disclose user data on apps
4 years, 4 months ago

Apple asks app developers to disclose user data on apps

The Hindu  

Apple has asked its app developers to reveal user data that they and their third-party partners collect for apps and app updates. "You need to identify all of the data you or your third-party partners collect," the company said in its App developer site. This will enable users can learn about some of the data types the apps may collect …

Google Play apps bombard users with 'horrible, intrusive' ads and deplete their battery
5 years, 2 months ago

Google Play apps bombard users with 'horrible, intrusive' ads and deplete their battery

The Independent  

Sign up to our free weekly IndyTech newsletter delivered straight to your inbox Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter Sign up to our free IndyTech newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy More than a dozen popular games, health trackers and other apps on the …

90 percent of all free Android apps on Play Store share user data with Google
6 years, 5 months ago

90 percent of all free Android apps on Play Store share user data with Google

Firstpost  

As many as 90 percent of all free apps available on the Google Play Store share data with Google’s parent company Alphabet, and they do so without the knowledge of the person whose data is being shared. The report also states that about 43 percent of apps on the Play Store share data with Facebook. They claim that “it mischaracterises …

Want to Avoid Malware on Your Android Phone? Try the F-Droid App Store
7 years, 2 months ago

Want to Avoid Malware on Your Android Phone? Try the F-Droid App Store

Wired  

In the early days of Android, co-founder Andy Rubin set the stage for the fledgling mobile operating system. Android’s mission was to create smarter mobile devices, ones that were more aware of their owner’s behavior and location.“If people are smart,” Rubin told Business Week in 2003, “that information starts getting aggregated into consumer products.” A decade and a half later, …

Never Ever (Ever) Download Android Apps Outside of Google Play
8 years, 3 months ago

Never Ever (Ever) Download Android Apps Outside of Google Play

Wired  

This week, researchers revealed that a strain of malware hit at least 1.3 million Android phones, stealing user data as part of a scheme to boost ad revenue. "Google Play automatically scans for potentially malicious apps as well as spammy accounts before they are published on the Google Play Store," Google said in a statement to WIRED. "We also introduced …

Developers worried about new rules for phone apps
12 years, 3 months ago

Developers worried about new rules for phone apps

Firstpost  

A cellphone game for kids about U.S. geography, “Stack the States,” gets rave reviews from parents. “It would require all kinds of data sharing,” said Russell-Pinson, the founder and sole employee of Freecloud Design in Charlotte, N.C. “I would be kind of afraid to do that.” The software industry is bracing for new regulations that it says will stifle creativity …

Apps for kids are secretly collecting information
12 years, 3 months ago

Apps for kids are secretly collecting information

Salon  

The Federal Trade Commission released a report Monday, which shows that most mobile apps for children are secretly collecting information and sharing it with third parties. Of the Google Play and Apple Store apps reviewed, only 20 percent disclosed any information about the app’s privacy practices, while almost 60 percent of the apps were found to be transmitting information from …

26 percent of apps on Google Play access user data: Bit9 research
12 years, 4 months ago

26 percent of apps on Google Play access user data: Bit9 research

Firstpost  

An analysis of over 4,00,000 apps on the Google Play store by Bit9 has led it to classify more than 100,000 apps as “suspicious” or “questionable”. An analysis of over 400,000 apps on the Google Play store by Bit9 has led it to classify more than 100,000 apps – 26 percent of the apps analysed – as “suspicious” or “questionable”. …

Vulnerabilities detected in some apps on Google Play
12 years, 5 months ago

Vulnerabilities detected in some apps on Google Play

Firstpost  

Computer scientists from Germany’s Leibniz University of Hannover and Philipps University of Marburg have found that apps downloaded by as many… Computer scientists from Germany’s Leibniz University of Hannover and Philipps University of Marburg have found that apps downloaded by as many as 185 million people have been putting to risk online banking and social networking credentials of users, along …

Study Shows Some Android Apps Leak User Data Without Clear Notifications
14 years, 6 months ago

Study Shows Some Android Apps Leak User Data Without Clear Notifications

Wired  

Something as simple as changing your Android phone's wallpaper or downloading a ringtone could transmit personal data about you, including your location, without your knowledge. It's not: About 15 of 30 randomly selected, popular, free Android apps sent sent users’ private information to remote advertising servers and two-thirds of the apps handled data in ambiguous ways, say researchers. The latest …

Discover Related