Apps Are Becoming a Big Online Privacy Threat

The reality is that nothing online is private, and there are numerous ways that you’re being tracked. From search engines to websites, apps, and even your operating system – they can all track you. If you genuinely want to protect your online anonymity, you need to implement a few different measures to protect yourself.

This article will look at the newest threat to your privacy – apps. We’ll discuss how and why apps track you. We’ll also mention a few real-life situations where it was discovered that apps track you. Finally, we’ll share a few measures you can take to protect your privacy online. These include using a location-specific Vietnam proxy also referred to as a Vietnam proxy, to throw trackers off.

Why Are Apps a Threat to Your Privacy?

Apps are one of the newer threats to your online privacy. One of the reasons why apps are such a threat is because they often hide their intentions behind complicated and contradictory terms and conditions. Most of the time, we give the apps permission to track us unknowingly, and since we’ve approved it, they can do it without any repercussions.

After installing a new app and when you launch it for the first time, they often ask you for certain permissions. For instance, a navigation app needs access to your location to provide directions.

However, sometimes apps request permission to data that isn’t required for them to function. For example, why would a game need access to your gallery? Or why would sketching or drawing pads native apps need access to your contacts?

Why Do Apps Track You?

The reason why apps track users are simple. It’s to collect your data. More businesses are starting to rely on data to make important decisions regarding marketing and other offers. Data is also crucial in marketing campaigns and targeting the right audience. This makes your data very valuable and collecting it is lucrative for businesses.

Many apps can track your data to improve services and target you with personalized sales campaigns. However, they can also sell this information to other companies or individuals. This is where it becomes risky, as you have no idea who your information is being sent to, who has access to it, or even what they’ll do with it.

Situations Where Apps Were Found Tracking Users

There are many situations where apps have been found using rather sneaky methods to track users. The social media platform, Facebook, is probably one of the most well-known culprits of this.

We’ve always known that Facebook tracks how we use the platform. After all, how would they be able to show us things in our feed that might interest us without tracking us? However, recently we’ve discovered just how far this tracking goes. You aren’t just tracked while using the app. If you use Facebook to log in to other apps, Facebook can also track your usage of that app. Since Facebook logins have become more commonplace and convenient, the platform can track users across many other apps.

Another recent situation is Apple. The platform has always advocated its dedication to user privacy. They’ve even made it a requirement for all apps in their app store to specifically ask users if they can be tracked when launching the apps. While this all seems great, it’s recently been discovered that the operating system still tracks your usage of these apps and how you browse the app store. This seems to happen even if you disable tracking in both the app and within your device settings.

Ways To Protect Your Privacy

A multi-faceted approach using multiple measures is best to protect your privacy. Simply turning off your location settings won’t be enough.

Using Proxies

Proxies are well-known tools for protecting online anonymity since they hide your IP address. You can use a location-specific one, like a Vietnam proxy, to make it seem like you’re accessing the internet from within the country. A Vietnam proxy will change your IP location, making it extremely difficult for apps to track you.

Removing Permissions

Make sure to go through your app permissions and remove any that aren’t required. For permissions that are needed, change the setting to ‘When using the app, so that it doesn’t track you in the background.

Turning off Location Settings

Turn off your location settings so that apps can’t collect this information. You can always turn it back on when you need it for directions etc.

Disable App Tracking

Make sure that you also disable app tracking directly on your device. This can usually be found within your privacy settings and is automatically enabled.

Final Thoughts

It’s no secret that apps track our data while we use them. However, some apps have gone so far as to continue tracking in the background. The extent of the data they collect can be shocking. They can learn where you live and work, places you visit, apps you use and how long, and much more. To protect your online privacy, you must use a proxy, disable permission, location settings, and more.