Apps Are Using Background App Refresh to Send Data to Tracking Companies

[JessWinter]

Doesn't push notification require background app refresh to work? If the app is unable to send and receive data while in the background, how would it know what to push?

Nope they're completely independent of each other. We've had push notifications on iPhone well before Background App Refresh was a thing. I've actually talked to many people who thought the same thing as you though. Perhaps Apple needs to explain it a bit better to consumers.

Background App Refresh "pulls" data constantly in the background (a somewhat intensive process compared to a push notification). "Push" notifications do not constantly pull data checking for an alert. The alert is "pushed" to the device by the server and then displays the notification. Hence the name.

So yeah, feel free to turn off Background App Refresh. It will not affect your push notifications from other apps at all.

 

[EvilEvil]

So much for Apple protecting our privacy!

 

[Soopastar]

I had one month earlier this year that the Weather.com app used 5GB of data on its own. This is an app I have installed but rarely use (I use Accuweather). This news doesn't surprise me. I've slowly been locking down my cell/gps/background refresh on my apps.

 

[keysofanxiety]

The creepiest to me is still Instagram. I swear they listen to the microphone or something.

Recently my bf and I were talking about some really specific stuff we want for the kitchen without doing any searches on my phone and half a day later I get an ad on Instagram about those kind of detailed kitchen utilities. This is just one of many coincidences

Ha, I had a similar instance on Facebook a few months ago. I was talking to my housemate about toothpaste as I'd completely ran out (the tube was practically two-dimensional) and needed to borrow his before I went to bed. This is not anything I've ever Google searched and I didn't add it to an online order. Plus I'm British, which tells you just how low it is on my list of priorities.

Next day, Facebook advert for toothpaste. The only Facebook enabled thing was Facebook Messenger which had microphone permission & background app refresh.

I have no doubt it's a monstrous coincidence, especially when I try to imagine the crazy amount of tech conspiracy that would be required to pull off a catered advert based on a fleeting conversation from a phone in my pocket, but I disabled that background stuff anyway.

 

[Scottsoapbox]

I have background data off; mainly to help reserve battery. Does this actually prevent / limit the tracking or does it just queue up a bunch of data until I actually turn the app on later? I wonder?

It will reduce it because the app isn't running as much but not eliminate it.

 

[alexhardaker]

And a friendly reminder, apple watch has its own section that lists apps for background refresh. Some are for the watch faces due to the complications. So make sure you check there as well. I see this a lot with apple watch users complaining battery life is horrible.

I didn’t know about that, thanks!!

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Can we limit Background Apps only be allowed to receive, and not sent?

And the battery implication, I wonder how much battery did we miss from that, assuming we still had background apps on.

No. Unfortunately, things don't work like that. If you can receive, you need to authenticate, and if you can authenticate, you can send.

Even if you prevent background refresh, the app could still store the data and send it when you open up the app.

 

[Grendelmon]

So did Fowler do this for Android too or does Android not generate enough clicks?

Rolls eyes...
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TWC app is extremely frustrating. That app is littered with ads, and background app refresh is doing nothing to update the actual weather information. Every time you open the app, it spends at least 15-20 seconds updating it to your actual location and the weather (even if your location hasn't changed).

I believe TWC is crowd sourcing meteorological data from your phone. Specifically, the barometer and your location.

 

[JetTester]

Wow, it just never ends. It is one thing having to protect yourself from nefarious thieves, but when trusted apps are tracking us and stealing our data, including identity and location, that puts the whole value of technology in question. My dinosaur dad was onto something....

 

[BenTrovato]

Does anyone here use the disconnect app for iOS?

 

[RudySnow]

Anyone who thinks using DoorDash is a bargain for food delivery is an idiot. The app is yet another reason to stop using this ripoff of a company.

 

[Conutz]

Install less junk and you’ll be far better off. Turning off app refresh will just result in these apps spewing data when you open them, I.e. they’ll do it one way or the other. I’d imagine that paying for apps authored by reputable developers will reduce your risk, although it’s interesting to see OneDrive in there.

Should Apple screen the communications from every app? This may be near impossible, logistically, and there is always a workaround, remember Volkswagen’s emissions tests anyone? To me the correct thing is a combined effort: Apple, users, testers, etc. And when an app is caught red-handed, people must vote with their delete button.

Just makes you think: what motivation would a developer, who does well with an app, have to sell/steal data? I think they’d far rather look after their clients with an eye on the long-term. I’m thinking the well-known apps/brands such as Omnigroup, Ulysses, Bear, to name a few. That’s my 2c.

 

[Grendelmon]

You'd literally have to delete every 3rd party app on your phone to avoid the tracking.

edit: You'd also need to get rid of MR, 9to5Mac, Appleinsider, and pretty much any other site you visit. They all use trackers. Some more than others. Apple even uses trackers from Optimizely and Adobe Target on Apple.com.

Considering all that, deleting Spotify kinda seems a bit reactionary.

Someone deleting an app because they don't want to be tracked by a third party on their iPhone is considered "reactionary?"
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There’s no real advantage to having Background App Refresh turned on. I’ve read that it was there originally to keep apps refreshed so they’d be up to date when we launched them. On all recent iPhones the apps refresh almost instantly as we open them, because of vastly improved silicon and connectivity, I think. I turned this feature off years ago.

(Of course, I could be incorrect about some of this!)

Background App Refresh was Apple's "me too" version of the feature of running background processes in iOS. Android was a mockery at the time for allowing background processes to run because it severely killed battery life.

 

[posguy99]

I guess I'm turning off Background App Refresh now. Battery will improve anyway.

Right, because the app certainly isn't sending the same telemetry when it's brought to the foreground.

 

[Bin Cook]

Your iPhone is leaking data left right and centre: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...are-on-your-side.2180420/page-4#post-27340742

Listening to Apple Podcasts with my Pi Hole running, I got an advert for a beauty salon in a Surrey (UK) town. It's a small town and this merchant is even smaller with what must be an incredibly small marketing budget. Yet I'm direct targeted? So is Apple using my address data? They haven't said it would be used for targeted ads...

 

[macfacts]

That's IT! I'm switching to Android where I'll be safe from tracking!

With a rooted Android device, you can setup a fake address book, fake GPS location, etc so the trackers get garbage data.

 

[snortpig]

Settings > General > Background App Refresh > Off

would be great if there was a way to do it selectively. I'd like apps like WhatsApp and slack to be able to receive notifications, but pretty much everything else can be off

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

Background App Refresh is something I disable by default because its useless anyway.
Beyond that: Apple really needs to extend control for certain APIs, specifically anything that can be used for tracking or are otherwise a privacy issue:

• WiFi SSID information - can be used for location tracking, especially using the BSSID
  
• Movement Information (Gyro, Accelerometer, Barometer since these can be used as inertal navigation system)
• VPN Status
• Access to contacts also needs to be more granular. I.e. restrict access to Name & Phone Number.
• Allow for multiple addressbooks and decide which one an App has access to.

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would be great if there was a way to do it selectively. I'd like apps like WhatsApp and slack to be able to receive notifications, but pretty much everything else can be off

Disable Background App Refresh. That has nothing to do with notifications...

 

[ThorstenO]

This may explain why some people get to see ads for products when they have visited a store. As well as getting phone calls as if "they know" I'm in this city.

I guess General > Background App Refresh > Off goes for the Watch app as well?

 

[69Mustang]

Someone deleting an app because they don't want to be tracked by a third party on their iPhone is considered "reactionary?"

Taken in context, yeah, it's reactionary. It's not like deleting Spotify would solve his issue. My tongue in cheek suggestion to delete all 3rd party apps would solved his issue... somewhat, because Apple tracks as well.

 

[chelsel]

Same. And I’ve read reports of apps using the microphone without giving permission or access on iOS. Of course they do. The data they can collect is about money and money corrupts all. Anyone considering the notion that you really have to grant access to the microphone for an app is just incredibly and dangerously naive.

Once, at work, a coworker offered me a drink of a brand of sparkling water he drinks specifically because he’s diabetic. I had my phone out in the breakroom, just browsing around doing whatever. He offered me the water and I said no thank you and that was that. No browser searches no data or anything.

The very next day on FB and Instagram I was receiving sponsored ads for the exact (obscure) brand of water he offered me.

Privacy is an illusion — everyone is exposed.

The ads may have been there all along, but you only noticed them because it was recently top of mind. I know when I buy a new car it seems like everyone all of a sudden has the same car.

 

[TobyR]

Trackers *are* the modern internet. Anyone here who does not see that is being willfully obtuse.

The only real question is whether these apps are sending anonymized usage data or personally identifiable data.

The former is nearly benign … the later more concerning and any company doing it should be required to plainly state that they do and what they are doing with it.

In the end, the apps themselves are agreements between you and the app provider. Apples involvement only extends so far.

At some point Apple is as much responsible for what happens on your phone (when you agreed to it) as Honda is for the music you play on the car stereo.

 

[I7guy]

Taken in context, yeah, it's reactionary. It's not like deleting Spotify would solve his issue. My tongue in cheek suggestion to delete all 3rd party apps would solved his issue... somewhat, because Apple tracks as well.

Apple tracks “what” as well?

 

[chelsel]

Webapps can do this too. It's called a service worker, and it's pretty standard.

I just checked and it looks like service workers don't work in the background on iOS 12... only Android

 

[realtwang]

As if I needed another reason to delete Spotify.

View attachment 839374

I knew there was a reason I didn’t like Spotify.