The most invasive applications: what data is collected and how does your confidentiality affect?

Applications on your mobile phone know much more about you than you imagine. In exchange for “free” services, you collect and share your data with third parties, often without awareness. According to the NSOFT report, some of the most popular applications in the App Store are those that invade your confidentiality. Next, we show you what it is and what information they collect from your device.

Social networks, big data collection

It is not surprising that the applications of social networks are among those who collect more data. The goal is headed by a list with Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads, which share 68.6% of data with third parties. SnapChat, Tiktok, X and Linkedin are also among those that extract more information, many times for functions such as contact offers or personalized advertising.

WhatsApp Business is also allocated, 57.1% of the collected data. Unlike the standard version of WhatsApp, she does not have encryption in the message from which the door leaves the door open for third parties to access your conversations.

Google and Amazon are not far behind

Google applications are deeply integrated into our devices, and this is reflected in their data collection. Gmail, Google, Google Maps and Google Pay are part of the 20 best of more invasive applications. YouTube, also owned by Google, exchange 31.4% of data with third parties and uses 34.3% for advertising.

Amazon, although less aggressive in the exchange of data (less than 6%), continues to collect a quarter of personal information of your users to configure the experience of purchases.

Applications that you do not expect on the list

Some applications surprise the amount of data they collect. For example, Duolingo shares 20% of information with third parties, which is a high percentage for application for learning a language. Popular games, such as Candy Crush Saga and Roblox, also appear on the list, although in these cases the volume of data separated by third parties below (less than 10%).

On the other hand, PayPal takes the seventh place among the most invasive applications, with anxious 65.7% of data collected as “other goals” that include the search history, contacts, the device identifier, financial information and even photos and photos of the video.

Appointments also appear in the list, such as Bumble and Tinder, which collect a large number of personal data, including information about the profile, message and total multimedia.

What data is the applications track?

According to iOS App Store, there are six key goals for collecting user data. Firstly, the third party advertising includes an advertisement for advertising from external sources in the application or exchange of user data with these advertisers. 57% of the analyzed applications share your data for this purpose.

Advertising or developer marketing perform a similar function, but focuses on demonstrating advertising of the company itself. 79% of the applications are recognized in the use of your data for this purpose.

91% of the applications use our information to analyze and evaluate user behavior, while 81% use it to configure the product, adapting experience for the user and recommending specific products. In addition, there is a category of “others” for impossible goals.

Information is also collected for the application of the application, for example, user authentication and safety measures. 94% of the main applications in the IOS App Store store use our data to improve the APP software and reduce failures.

However, not all applications that collect data do this with poor intentions. Some require specific permits for proper work. For example, Uber and Uber Eats need access to the place to offer their services, but the level of the subsequent they do is higher than that of alternatives, such as Lyft. This shows that even in the same category of applications, some can be more invasive than others.

What can you do to protect your information?

If you want to minimize the exposition of your data, check the reports on confidentiality in the App Store and Google Play before loading the application. He also considers the use of web versions instead of applications, since they usually collect less information.

If you have applications on your mobile phone that you do not use often, removal of them can reduce the amount of data that you use without realizing it. In the end, if a free application collects too much information, this is because a real product is you.