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

[clauzzz203]

I thought the app store was curated. Takes too much money, tim?

 

[4jasontv]

Do you think Gmail users gave their consent?

Of course. Is someone doubting this?

 

[peachpup]

Article Link: Apps Are Using Background App Refresh to Send Data to Tracking Companies

I also suggest turn off location services for EVERYTHING except those apps you use often ... Maps, etc ... Weather Channel APP is notorious for using location services to obtain related data... apps like Weather, Yelp, etc .... can use your GPS or you can type in a zip code to find info. You can go into privacy controls and see which apps have requested location, camera, microphone, your contacts ... you would be surprised at what apps have no business having access to those parts of your device. For location services, you have options to turn on, off, or while using ...

I do believe Apple is sincere in their efforts or talking points of "what is on your device, stays on your device", but in practice they are not much better than other companies. Siri for example, DOES record your voice for analytical purposes to make it more useful ala Alexa and Hey Google... Apple could absolutely crack down or control these companies (even the big ones) that violate privacy guidelines in their apps. Otherwise, Apple is just blowing smoke.

 

[MadeTheSwitch]

Just turn stuff off that's 'convenient' I never use an iPhone unless my rules are followed first. Which is

- Turn off Background app. individually AND then main switch, as i don't even trust the all-in-one will disable everything.

- Go through and disable Siri completely and turn off siri & suggestions for ALL installed apps, which take time depending on the number installed. (If you've even had to disable Privacy setting on Windows 10, you'll know what i mean)

- Turn off all features like iMessage/Facetime/Screen Time/Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/Personal hotspot etc. and disable mobile app access to apps i do not want permission.. Don't use Location services, etc

And that's all BEFORE i start using the phone. (phew!)

Turn off imessage and Facetime? But that’s how I communicate with my husband.
Turn off wifi? So only use cell phone company bandwidth? Can’t they track you too?
Don’t use Location services? I think I might need that for lyft which I use a lot to get around.

I get not wanting to be tracked, but some of these suggestions would inhibit normal usage for me!

 

[FairlyKors]

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

This doesn’t have anything to do with an app actually being open (foreground or “background”) but what happens in the background when an app is simply installed and present on your phone.

 

[peachpup]

Turn off imessage and Facetime? But that’s how I communicate with my husband.
Turn off wifi? So only use cell phone company bandwidth? Can’t they track you too?
Don’t use Location services? I think I might need that for lyft which I use a lot to get around.

I get not wanting to be tracked, but some of these suggestions would inhibit normal usage for me!

Yeah, it is a balance for sure. BUT, it only takes a few seconds to type in a zip-code or city to use apps that require a location. I like being in control of where, when and what I need... not an app disguising itself as being helpful while trying to steal me blind. )) Yeah, I'm being a little facetious too. ))

 

[FairlyKors]

It's a shame that the author doesn't do more to help his audience understand more about the data being transmitted and collected. While it definitely helps to fuel his narrative of fear and outrage, the boring details would keep his readers from deleting apps that they enjoy for the sake of their "privacy".

The reality is this: the privacy referenced by Apple in it's marketing and PR is with regard to PII and the collection and sale of yours by Apple. The trackers referenced in this article are mostly being used in aggregate for analytics. Apple still does not collect or sell your personal information. Apple doesn't allow 3PP apps to access anything that you don't explicitly allow.

If you wish to prevent tracking as described in the article, you're almost certainly too late. This kind of thing has been going on since the Netscape days and the only way to avoid it entirely is to stop going online using any device. Trackers, cookies, etc. have been a fact of online life for decades.

My question is this: What exactly are you finding offensive and outrageous in this? How exactly are you being violated, and I mean that as an honest question. How have most of you spent the past 20 years online and only now take issue with this kind of thing? What exactly are you giving up in terms of your privacy as described in the article that you've not been giving up as an online consumer for many years now? Personally, I fail to be moved by the prospect of Company A knowing that I - an iPhone (insert model) user from generic geographic area using a network of a generic type has version X of an app installed. Or that the same generic device profile is only using features A, B and D of a given app. Or that my app last polled the server for fresh content 7 hours ago using a X network. See how boring that is? That's the lion's share of the chatter your phone is having while you snore at night.

One last thing. Gmail arrived in 2004 with the promise of 2GB of FREE storage, which was absurd at the time. Every single one of us knew at the time that we'd be served ads within the Gmail experience. Every article written about the service made it perfectly clear. Furthermore, it was made clear that those ads would be targeted using the content of our emails. For 16 years a gobsmacking number of people have been using Gmail with this universal understanding - our private email is wide open to Google's targeting algorithm in exchange for a free service. How is it that so many of us are suddenly running around with our hair on fire about perceived "privacy" violations that get nowhere even remotely close to our actual intimate details as Gmail has been operating for almost 2 decades? Think about it people and put this whole thing into perspective.

If it were this simple and straightforward then articles like the one this post is about wouldn’t need to be written. Privacy erodes slowly and in the dark and down slippery slopes. Bad things really can happen when privacy isn’t looked after. The ability to speak your mind freely about almost any topic you want is an exception, not the rule. We’re seeing these boundaries tested right now, even in the US. I don’t want this post to get flagged for violating the “politics” discussion ban, but speaking generally, it is very important that we don’t lose our right to free speech. It’s an incredible privilege to have but it can go away. The less control we have over who can see and share our data the less safe we are when political winds change. Even though it *seems* like everyone already sees and shares everything we utter in any form, that isn’t actually the case. The right to privacy is directly related to the right to free speech, which is directly related to our own personal liberty.

I know there’s no perfect defense for safeguarding our information online, but I do what I can to stop the worst violations (like keeping Background Activity turned off). And even though I know Apple isn’t perfect, I stay with Apple because I believe they are a much better “fiduciary” of my current and future information. I can get by with hardware by anyone if I’m honest...and while iOS is generally better, it’s missing some really big things too (like file management)—so ultimately Apple taking privacy seriously is the biggest reason I stick with them. It’s incredibly easy to be cynical about Apple & privacy, but it’s also important to care and pay attention to who is doing what.

 

[curtvaughan]

This is standard practice since the Web & sophisticated mobile platforms existed. You would always want metadata on user experience with the app (& ways to categorize them) in the background process of the app (ideally away from the main thread as much as possible).

How are apps expected to be better or gleam important info about their users to be a better app + verify the audience they claim to be for is indeed the audience that actually use the app for themselves & ad partners?

Don't really care how applications verify who I am, my phone number, my habits, my location, my service provider, or any of my personal data. If they aren't up front about it with a clear disclaimer/warning they should be booted out of the App Store. The freaking developers need to focus on selling the product they advertise without spying on the very people supporting them.
[doublepost=1559114319][/doublepost]

When this feature was introduce...I never enable it...no point of having this ON for me...what is this? Android?

Pretty much, yeah, the only difference being that Apple puts on a show bragging about its concern for your privacy. Android doesn't bother, as no one would believe them if they did. It's about time Apple customers acquired a similar attitude, not only about privacy policies, but about defective high dollar products of late.
[doublepost=1559114791][/doublepost]

This kind of thing is why I'm giving up my iPhone 7 and going with a 'dumb' phone. And no data plan. Screw that.

If you use the internet at all, through a desktop or laptop, through a cell phone, through "smart" speakers and IoT devices - if you even have a service/carrier provider - you will be tracked. Using a cheap flip phone just narrows the possibilities. I'm in agreement about possibly reverting to an old fashioned flip phone for sending/receiving phone calls and encrypted messaging, and with a GPS I can toggle on/off. Still wouldn't be private, but I guess wearing speedos or bikinis is more modest than being buck naked.
[doublepost=1559115157][/doublepost]

Ouch.
Good thing I don’t use any of those apps.

Just turn off your phone. Not only will you get more privacy - your battery life will significantly improve.

 

[rjp1]

Seems to me they have investigated but this story lacks the companies responses as to why, like Spotify, The Weather Channel and One Drive would have legitimate reasons to know that information, so could they not use third party trackers to get it as opposed to making their own?

They could, but a lot of people don’t want to reinvent the wheel.

An app I work on uses Microsoft’s App Center. It sends what device and OS the person is using. I then have it log every time someone touches a button. It logs where the app is and is going next. It sends a unique identifier of anything that is viewed in the app.

All of this is sent so that if the app crashes, I can put together where they were and what they clicked on to reproduce the crash so that I can fix it. I take care to never include any real data in what I send. For instance, if they clicked to view a message, then I log they clicked to view message 123456780 versus the subject of the message or something else that is human readable. That way I can go look in the database and figure out exactly what they looked at, but nothing of value is being stored in case Microsoft is doing analytics on our analytics.

I could have wrote my own to track this stuff, but there is no real value in doing so. I’m careful to never expose anything to a 3rd party. Heck, even if I was logging this to my own web service, I would still have the data be sent in the same format.

I would imagine a lot of apps are tracking similar stuff. This isn’t really anything to worry about. In fact, you should be grateful the developer is trying to find/fix any crashes people experience versus publishing and not caring.

Others probably do abusive stuff. For instance, you could easily send whatever someone is typing in the app. Facebook was caught doing this as people typed on their site and then hit backspace. You could look for a buyer of this data and send anything you wanted.

The problem is how do you tell the difference between someone collecting anonymized data to improve an app versus someone who is collecting everything to sell? It is not simple.

Maybe some type of firewall for iOS would be nice. The problem is that only power users would most likely use it. It is overwhelming the amount of connections that open up from an app to retrieve data. People will not know whether to allow or block connections. They may block things that are legit and then the app doesn’t function. How would they know what is being sent? If you gave a way to analyze the traffic then bad guys may encrypt it and you won’t know what it is anyways. This is all way to difficult and not Apple like.

I honestly don’t know how they fix this. We probably need laws protecting our data.

 

[FFR]

Don't really care how applications verify who I am, my phone number, my habits, my location, my service provider, or any of my personal data. If they aren't up front about it with a clear disclaimer/warning they should be booted out of the App Store. The freaking developers need to focus on selling the product they advertise without spying on the very people supporting them.
[doublepost=1559114319][/doublepost]
Pretty much, yeah, the only difference being that Apple puts on a show bragging about its concern for your privacy. Android doesn't bother, as no one would believe them if they did. It's about time Apple customers acquired a similar attitude, not only about privacy policies, but about defective high dollar products of late.
[doublepost=1559114791][/doublepost]
If you use the internet at all, through a desktop or laptop, through a cell phone, through "smart" speakers and IoT devices - if you even have a service/carrier provider - you will be tracked. Using a cheap flip phone just narrows the possibilities. I'm in agreement about possibly reverting to an old fashioned flip phone for sending/receiving phone calls and encrypted messaging, and with a GPS I can toggle on/off. Still wouldn't be private, but I guess wearing speedos or bikinis is more modest than being buck naked.
[doublepost=1559115157][/doublepost]
Just turn off your phone. Not only will you get more privacy - your battery life will significantly improve.

Why? All I had to do was stop using any of googles services.
Very easy.
My iPhone actually has better battery because of it.


Maybe if your on android and want privacy shuttling off your phone is the only solution, guess Yoel are used to it.

Did you check on how much google was mining from your gmail account.

You can look here:
https://myaccount.google.com/purchases

Did you give consent?

 

[curtvaughan]

That's always your response. Google does it more, therefore Apple is different. Nope. Trying to rely on comparing what they do to Google is a cop out. You can't make a compelling argument without trying to scapegoat another company. Judged entirely on it's own, Apple tracks you and it has nothing to do with Google. It's plain and simple. If you have an Apple device, Apple is tracking you. They tell you they track you. Your claim of boilerplate is nothing more than an attempt at obfuscation. Apple does everything they say they do in that privacy policy.

No one said anything about them being equal... 'cept you. I said they track you. That's fact.

This goes on in politics all the time. If one claims that so-and-so does sleazy stuff or lies, the standard counter argument is that another so-and-so does similar stuff.
[doublepost=1559116067][/doublepost]

Why? All I had to do was stop using any of googles services.
Very easy.
My iPhone actually has better battery because of it.


Maybe if your on android and want privacy shuttling off your phone is the only solution, guess Yoel are used to it.

Did you check on how much google was mining from your gmail account.

You can look here:
https://myaccount.google.com/purchases

Did you give consent?

I think you missed the intent of my statements, which basically was that ALL services and providers compromise your privacy. Suggesting leaving the phone off to increase privacy and save your battery was an attempt at irony. Guess I failed. Saving your battery by never using it sort of obviates the purpose of having a battery in the first place. Same with leaving your phone off.
[doublepost=1559116840][/doublepost]

This happens when you use privacy as a one of your top selling points for your services.

Even though it's unrealistic for Apple to protect every facet of a consumer, I think most consumers are not technically literate enough to understand how that's not possible.

It's generally unwise to trust multi-billion dollar corporations and their multi-million dollar executives. The same applies to governments and politicians. One has to go back a few decades, but I remember when people were worried about land line phones being tapped. The spying (typically government or police) entity had to at least get court approval to do so legally.

 

[HacKage]

 

[zz_nosa_r]

I see Disconnect.Me's Privacy Pro app. Is this article a paid article from Disconnect.Me?

 

[laptech]

If Apple were concerned about data privacy as much as they say they do, they would have built a feature within IOS that allows the user to monitor what app's are tracking their data and what data is being sent. The fact Apple does not do this tells you everything you need to know about how much Apple actually cares about it's users privacy.

 

[Wanted797]

I’ve had background app refresh turned off for years.

Great saver for battery life and it only really gives you microseconds in app launch time.

I assume there will be another Apple investigation that gets some companies in trouble and their apps removed again?

 

[5105973]

Wow, I just went to see which apps had background refresh enabled and they were ALL on!

I'm guessing the latest IOS update reset them, like it did my WiFi, bluetooth etc.

I got that nasty shock, too! I had to go in and manually turn off most of them.

I’ll have to read on to see if it’s already been answered, but what exactly is Background App Refresh good for and why would we want it on?

 

[applepuree]

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.

Thats it, I am deleting the internet.....

 

[phillytim]

I keep Background App Refresh turned OFF for everything; it does not bother me to self-limit what some apps *could* be doing for me in the background, even those I would want to be working in the background.

For example - the Wawa app essentially requires both Background App Refresh AND Location Services to be ON, in order for me to place my hoagie orders. I am one block away from Wawa. Is is convenient to order my hoagie from my workdesk and just hop on over there to have it ready for pickup? Yes.

Burger King's app DOES NOT require either Background App Refresh NOR does it require Location Services. Burger King is a few blocks away.

So where do you think I end up going for lunch? Yep - Burger King. And I'm good with that.

 

[Ironman226]

Developers should be asked before submiting an app if their app uses a tracker / analytics frameworks. If yes then a next question should be : Is your tracker by default disabled?

 

[oldoneeye]

This is standard practice since the Web & sophisticated mobile platforms existed. You would always want metadata on user experience with the app (& ways to categorize them) in the background process of the app (ideally away from the main thread as much as possible).

How are apps expected to be better or gleam important info about their users to be a better app + verify the audience they claim to be for is indeed the audience that actually use the app for themselves & ad partners?

I can see that the developer may want the data. That doesn't mean they should get it. "Back-ground app refresh" is quite descriptive and to the casual user does not equate to " here - have my digital history"

 

[I7guy]

...
I think you missed the intent of my statements, which basically was that ALL services and providers compromise your privacy. Suggesting leaving the phone off to increase privacy and save your battery was an attempt at irony. Guess I failed. Saving your battery by never using it sort of obviates the purpose of having a battery in the first place. Same with leaving your phone off...

Just because the police can break down your door, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t secure it by locking it.

 

[burgman]

I thought the app store was curated. Takes too much money, tim?

Bonus points for not understanding the user giving permission for background refresh without reading the app privacy T&C. I like using the app Weatherbug, until I read the T&C, I deleted it. The parent company is hovering up a lot of data having nothing to do with weather.
[doublepost=1559132732][/doublepost]

I can see that the developer may want the data. That doesn't mean they should get it. "Back-ground app refresh" is quite descriptive and to the casual user does not equate to " here - have my digital history"

Ignorance is not a defense online anymore. Companies and some developers go to great lengths to hide behind confusing T&C language. Some good advice I received in a company meeting on security was stop using apps and just use a browser whenever possible, much more secure. Plus of course if it’s free, you’re the product.

 

[curtvaughan]

Bonus points for not understanding the user giving permission for background refresh without reading the app privacy T&C. I like using the app Weatherbug, until I read the T&C, I deleted it. The parent company is hovering up a lot of data having nothing to do with weather.

Here's a thought: in general, just assume all the fine legalese print accompanying apps details all the different ways you can be snooped upon and that the app isn't trustworthy for privacy. If an app actually does respect your privacy and doesn't collect / distribute your data, the developer(s) should advertise that fact in bold print as a selling point, more or less what Apple does for their iPhones. The barely legible fine print hardly ever relays favorable information to the customer - most people don't bother to read it, anyway. It's only meant to be read by lawyers in the rare event anyone cries "foul".

 

[femike]

Wouldn't the purpose be for apps that you don't launch often, but it needs to alert u to something? Like incoming messages. I only launch Whatsapp when someone sends me a message. I wouldn't want to have to launch it often just to check.

Well I just checked, I have background app refresh off for WhatsApp and I still got a notification. Not a proper test though. You could ask your friend to test it with you.

 

[ipponrg]

I got that nasty shock, too! I had to go in and manually turn off most of them.

I’ll have to read on to see if it’s already been answered, but what exactly is Background App Refresh good for and why would we want it on?

An example of why you would want it on would be for specific weather apps. I use Dark Sky which can alert me when it’s about to rain in my area. It’s actually quite useful since the weather here is so inconsistent