Your phone knows almost all there is to know about you. Where you work and live, where you travel, who you’re friends with, what you write in your emails and messages. The same is true for many of the apps you use, but some are nosier than others. The ones on this list are the worst apps for your privacy according to Norton, according to online pokies for Australia.
Facebook is probably the worst app for privacy, as it tracks you across all its apps and websites. It even tracks you when you log off Facebook. The app requires almost every permission there is, including:
Your contacts, call logs, and text messages
Your camera and microphone
Your internal storage
Your Wi-Fi
Your location
In essence, Facebook wants full control of your device and claims it’s necessary for the app’s functionality.
It knows when you log in and how long you spend on the platform. It tracks where you go, what you buy, what you browse. Facebook collects all this information to serve you targeted ads. What’s more, the company has leaked its user data through numerous breaches. Facebook has proven time and again that your personal data isn’t safe in their hands.
- Messenger
Facebook Messenger is also one of the worst apps for privacy, as it does not use end-to-end encryption. The messaging app probably stores your private messages in plain text on their servers. If that’s the case, they can be reached by any employee with login credentials. Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that the messaging app automatically scans all the links and images you send to your friends. When the algorithm finds them suspicious, moderators read your messages and block them if they do not meet company policy.
It is true that these measures stop fake news and unlawful content from spreading. However, you cannot trust Facebook to use your data only for good. Remember that Facebook:
Has always valued growth over user privacy
Has been breached numerous times
Stored logins in plain text
Logged text messages and phone calls without informing users about this practice
Asked users for email passwords to spam their contacts
3. Weather apps
Your shiny new weather app wants to access your location. Sounds reasonable enough – it can’t tell the weather if it doesn’t know where you are. But after you grant permission, the app tracks your location 24/7 and sells this data to advertisers, which can put your phone security and privacy at risk. Such apps are numerous, and they all sound the same:
AccuWeather
WeatherBug
The Weather Channel App
And it’s not only the weather apps you need to worry about. It can be any app that provides local news or tells about events in your city or informs you about new restaurants worth visiting. Any of those may be trying to get your data for location-based advertising. Weather apps will sell data on where you work, how you commute, who’s your physician, and what gym you frequent. There is no guarantee that your location data will be handled properly. It could be leaked, or sold further down the line. Image if someone from your area obtained your location data, even without your name.
- Words with Friends and other mobile multiplayer games
Multiplayer games are all about interaction and player engagement. You solve puzzles, level up, and have fun with friends and family. However, games like Words with Friends collect an obscene amount of personal data, making them one of the worst apps for privacy. This isn’t a problem with casino en ligne en france, as the platform protects your privacy with advanced tech.
Zynga, which created Words with Friends, the megahit FarmVille, and many other successful games, tracks and logs all kinds of personal data:
first and last name
username
gender
age and birthday
email
contacts from the address book
in-game purchases
everything players post in the message boards
the contents of chats and messages between players
Facebook ID
approximate physical location
basically, any publicly available info they can find