AccuWeather for iOS Sending Location Data to Monetization Company Even When Location Sharing is Off [Updated]

[Jose90]

Popular and well-known iOS weather app AccuWeather has been caught collecting and sharing user location data even when location sharing permissions are turned off, according to a blog post recently shared by security researcher Will Strafach.

According to Strafach, AccuWeather was partnering with data monetization firm Reveal Mobile to collect GPS coordinates, including speed and altitude, the name and BSSID of a user's Wi-Fi router, and whether a device has Bluetooth on and off, all of which was available to Reveal Mobile when location services were enabled.

With location services disabled, AccuWeather was still sending the Wi-Fi router name and BSSID, which still offered Reveal Mobile location data.Reval Mobile is a firm that uses location data to gather information on a user's home, work, and frequently visited locations, pairing that data with demographic targeting criteria to allow retailers to deliver targeted ads. From the company's website:In response to Strafach's blog post, Reveal Mobile says the data it collects is anonymized and grouped into audience segments. "We offer no product or service that permits anyone to see an individual device's location data," reads a statement on the Reveal Mobile website. The company also says it does not reverse engineer a device's location when location sharing is turned off.AccuWeather vice president of emerging platforms David Mitchell told ZDNet that AccuWeather will use data through Reveal Mobile for "audience segmentation and analysis, to build a greater audience understanding and create more contextually relevant and helpful experiences for users and for advertiser."

Following Strafach's discovery, many people have been uninstalling the AccuWeather app, and given the wealth of weather apps available in the App Store, this is not surprising. AccuWeather does not apparently have plans to end its relationship with Reveal Mobile, so users may want to find another weather app.

Article Link: AccuWeather for iOS Sending Location Data to Monetization Company Even When Location Sharing is Off

i had the app years ago but got rid of it for a better one, having said that I am truly disgusted, firstly how ios can allow apps gather information from your iphone when there are settings specifically turning off this app access that phone owners
set. Secondly, the app then going stealing the info without the permission of the owner. Thirdly, "anonymised and grouped into audience segments" is unacceptable. Fourthly what will apple do

 

[sfobear]

...I would recommend people use the national weather service NOW app.

Just to be clear, this is not an official NWS app but one created by a third-party developer, apparently using NWS APIs.

The US NWS suggests bookmarking http://mobile.weather.gov/#typeLocation on your mobile device (but it ain't pretty, just be warned ).

 

[Apple_Robert]

Glad that they were caught. May they suffer the wrath of the internet.

 

[jlseattle]

So, I'll say this again. You get what you pay for. These companies need to make money off free apps somehow. They don't magically grow on trees. Support companies that charge for their apps and don't share data (double dipping). Especially smaller developers that produce wonderful products.

*Nothing is truly free*

 

[jonblatho]

I have a (paid, mind you) weather app on the App Store.

This is like Christmas in August.

 

[macduke]

I want so much to love Radar Scope Pro but they refuse to add speeds to their loops. One frame at a time is not cool. Look at MyRadar Pro. So so much nicer.

Not sure if it has all the advanced radar features that I use or dual-pane stuff with the distance tools, storm tracking, etc. Seems a bit more basic for radar? Seems to have some nice visualizations, though, and I like how it has satellite layers and composite mosaics instead of single tower returns. But I use Weather Underground's Storm app for things like that. Their website doesn't have anything more than their app description so I can't see what all is supported. As for the animation timing, it would be nice to speed it up in RadarScope, but it doesn't bother me too much since you can hold down on the playback button and quickly slide the animation back and forth. Do you know if MyRadar's Apple Watch app is any good? RadarScope's app is kinda slow and finicky, but many Watch apps seem to be that way—especially for us Series 0 users.

 

[McScooby]

Accuweather was my goto also, but i can't help thinking must have a part to play, surely if all apps are sandboxed & if location is turned off, does iOS not clamp access to gps / wifi / sensors etc. or are they trusting of the dev? Am I missing something?

 

[FourDegrees]

How is this a surprise? They have to pay for free apps somehow. If you don't want to get violated, loosen your purse strings.

No one has any common sense anymore.

Well that's true to a point. But I paid for the platinum service. Are you saying Accuweather are not tracking if you have paid for the platinum service?

 

[EnderBeta]

Repeat after me: “if you don’t pay for the product, you ARE the product”

But I paid for the premium version with no ads. I feel so violated. I am going to write Apple and ask for a refund on grounds of the huge violation of ethics.

 

[jpn]

so its reading the location of the wifi router itself, correct?
apple can't prevent this, correct?

 

[IlluminatedSage]

Shady as hell

 

[Dezertman]

This is like cheating in college football. I'm sure hundreds of companies do this just haven't been caught yet

 

[Dezertman]

I have a (paid, mind you) weather app on the App Store.

This is like Christmas in August.

This makes no sense at all

 

[tridley68]

CARROT Weather is my go to for weather choice .

 

[zaqschreib]

Unfortunately there is a ton of this going on I would imagine.

 

[macbeta]

I thought that this kind of thing is a breach of Apple's terms of service, shouldn't Apple remove them off the app store?

 

[Westside guy]

so its reading the location of the wifi router itself, correct?
apple can't prevent this, correct?

I cannot see why, for most apps, they should be allowed to see the name of the wifi network. The OS is handling the actual communication, not the app itself.

 

[lowendlinux]

The worst part of all of this is AccuWeather is n app most people would pay for

 

[Maxim730]

This was my go to weather app. Any suggestions for a replacement?

App store reviews are already getting hit hard.

Weather live Is what I'm looking at ..$5 and awesome reviews

 

[EnderBeta]

I’ve been using Dark Sky & I love it

I tried it, but I like living earth a little better.

 

[Krek]

Don't forget to leave a review on the App Store before you delete it.

 

[TheIntruder]

Perhaps users should blacklist this app.

No, if Apple was true to the user privacy image it likes to use to portray itself, it would at the very least remove the app from the store for violating guidelines, until it complied.

Cook may have felt that giving Uber's CEO a verbal dress down may have been sufficient when it was discovered the Uber app was caught intentionally violating rules, but the potential user backlash given Uber's market position may have given them a break.

Apple should follow through, use some teeth, and set an example by taking real action. There are plenty of weather app alternatives.

But, Apple seldom likes to pick fight with larger developers or more popular apps. And stirring the pot in such a manner may only expose the scale of user data collection that occurs, including by Apple itself.

Most users don't read tech news sites such as this, will be completely unaware, and continue to use the app. And even MR itself only picked up on this story a couple days after another site ran it.

Unless an app has functionality that a company's mobile site lacks, there is little reason to use one anyway.

 

[dontworry]

Uninstalling....

the damage is done, it was my home screen weather app, too.

 

[vixster1901]

NOAA

 

[lennyeiger]

I was upset at this, like all of you. So I went to Reveal's site to see if they had other companies I should get rid of. Sure enough, there it was - the Weather Company, an IBM Business. That's "The Weather Channel" which people have been recommending as an alternate.

It's gone.

Also, DoApp, and a number of others. You can go to the "our solutions" page if you want... When you follow links to say, baronweather.com, this list will also add the Weather Network, National Weather Service, AccuWeather and Garmin.

This has got to stop. I don't know how, but it has to anyway.