Researchers have found which apps share the most data with third party sites

Thomson Reuters

A customer holds an iPhone 6s during the official launch at the Apple store in central Sydney, Australia.

Research has been published that shows which apps share the most information with online services.

“Our results show that many mobile apps share potentially sensitive user data with third parties, and that they do not need visible permission requests to access the data,” the research states. 

The researchers looked at 110 apps in total — half Android, half iOS — on two separate dates, noting where the apps connected to. The majority of the data requests went to google.com, facebook.com, or yahoo.com while others went to anonymous sites, such as safemovedm.com. 

The researchers found that, on the whole, iOS users were safer than Android users. On average, iOS apps shared “potentially sensitive” information with 2.6 third-party domains while Android apps share information with 3.1. “potentially sensitive” information includes names, email addresses, location, and health data. 

The biggest offenders for Android are: Text Free (a free calling/texting app which shared information with 11 third-party domains); Map My Walk (which shared information with nine domains); Glide (a video messaging service which shared information with eight domains); and Drugs.com (which shared information with seven domains). 

The biggest offenders for iOS are: LocalScope (a browser which shared information with 17 domains); Walgreens (an online pharmacy which shared information with five domains); Map My Run and Nike+ (fitness apps which shared with four domains); Fruit Ninja (a game which shared information with four domains); and Pinterest (the social app which shared with four domains). 

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