52% of apps share your data

52% of apps share your data

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Your personal data is one of the most valuable assets you have. Give away too much information, and someone could use it to steal your identity. Most of us are aware of the pitfalls and take steps to prevent abuse.

But sometimes you can leak or collect information in a way you do not know. Have you taken all the time to read through the terms and conditions of an online service like Facebook? Tap or click here for the eight apps you now need to remove from your phone.

You may be surprised to learn that many programs share your data with other third parties. Do you know which programs share most of your data? We’re about to tell you.

Here is the background story

Apple requires that all apps in the App Store be allowed to share data about apps. If the app does not do this, the App Store will be kicked off.

With Apple’s updated privacy policy in mind, pCloud has dug a bit to determine how different apps use your data and where the information goes. Although you can revoke access to an app, it will be necessary to make all your features work on your device.

So which applications need the most access, and what happens to the information collected? It’s not surprising that 52% of the apps tested shared your information with third parties for targeted ads.

Apps that share most data with third parties

It should come as no shock that social media apps like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube collect the most of your information. However, it must be explained that in most cases you willingly provide your information to the services. Here is a list of programs that share the most data.

Top 10 apps that share most of your information:

  1. Instagram (79% of personal data collected)
  2. Facebook (57% of personal data collected)
  3. LinkedIn (50% of personal data collected)
  4. Uber Eats (50% of personal data collected)
  5. Train line (43% of personal data collected)
  6. Youtube (43% of personal data collected)
  7. YouTube Music (43% of personal data collected)
  8. Deliveroo (36% of personal data collected)
  9. Duolingo (36% of personal data collected)
  10. eBay (36% of personal data collected)

YouTube is not the worst when it comes to selling information. The award goes to Instagram, which shares 79% of your data with other companies. This includes everything from purchasing information, personal data and browser history. No wonder there is so much promotional content in your feed, ”pCloud noted.

Data sharing programs
Image: pCloud

But just because the programs share a lot of your data, does not mean that it is for bad reasons. In most cases, your data will be passed on to third parties associated with the program.

Programs that collect data for their own benefit

Speaking of the biggest social media apps, they are also at the top of the list to gather your information for their own benefit. This is done for several reasons, but the most common is to serve your ads.

In other cases the collected data is to your advantage. Think about receiving a discount coupon on your birthday. The app saved the information to send you a code, and hopefully you buy it.

Top 10 programs that collect data for their benefit:

  1. Facebook
  2. Instagram
  3. Klarna
  4. Grubhub
  5. Uber
  6. Uber Eats
  7. eBay
  8. Do not eat
  9. LinkedIn
  10. Twitter
Programs share data for their own benefit
Image: pCloud

Most urgent programs

If you consider all the data from the study, you are probably eager to find out who the biggest culprits are. Well, would it be a shock if 40% of the top 10 list are social media apps? Probably not.

Top 10 most intrusive programs:

  1. Instagram (62% of personal data retrieved)
  2. Facebook (55% of personal data retrieved)
  3. Uber Eats (50% of personal data retrieved)
  4. Train line (43% of personal data retrieved)
  5. eBay (40% of personal data retrieved)
  6. LinkedIn (40% of personal data retrieved)
  7. Twitter (40% of personal data retrieved)
  8. Youtube (36% of personal data retrieved)
  9. YouTube Music (36% of personal data retrieved)
  10. Grubhub (36% of personal data retrieved)

The safest programs

With the most personalized data hunger programs out of the way, some of the safest programs in terms of the amount of data being tracked can be surprising. With the ongoing pandemic, programs like Clubhouse, Netflix and Microsoft Teams are placed in the top five.

Even with the video conferencing service Zoom’s conference error of last year, he managed to make the top 10.

Apps that do not share your data:

  1. Sein
  2. Clubhouse
  3. Netflix
  4. Microsoft team
  5. Google Classroom
  6. Shazam
  7. Etsy
  8. Skype
  9. Telegram
  10. Boohoo

Programs like Signal, Telegram and Clubhouse have expressed the privacy of many users and are actively advocating for data protection. Signal and Telegram gained a large stream of users earlier this year when WhatsApp updated its terms of service (and subsequently moved in).

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