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'WhoApp' Provides Users With Detailed Unknown Caller Information for Free [Updated]

I won't download who app, but my name, address, phone number, birthday etc will be stored in the phone of people who will. So it's a privacy nightmare for people who won't even use the app.

Seems unfair that my details will be shared without my consent.
 
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vsthsd said:
No kidding. Their privacy policy:

"When you give WhoApp permission to do so, WhoApp accesses your mobile phone’s address book and collects the names, phone numbers, addresses and certain other information about your contacts ("Contact Information"). WhoApp incorporates Contact Information into a database that it maintains of all its users’ contacts (“Contacts Database “). When your Contact Information is incorporated into the Contacts Database, it is no longer linked or linkable back to you. The Contacts Database is used by WhoApp and by apps that are offered by the company that offers WhoApp (or its affiliates) to fulfill customers’ requests for service and to improve each app’s services for its customers. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IF YOUR PHONE’S ADDRESS BOOK CONTAINS AN ENTRY FOR YOU, THAT INFORMATION WILL BE DOWNLOADED TO THE CONTACTS DATABASE JUST LIKE ANY OTHER CONTACT INFORMATION."

No thanks - I don't want my friends/family (with address and pictures?) to be entered in here, and I hope they wouldn't either.

Edit: Is this even legal? Sharing personal information of others w/o consent? This is really scary/sketchy stuff. If each phone has an average of say, 50 contacts, and they get 100,000 users...
Click to expand...


They will probably be sued. Should be sued I think.
 
vsthsd said:
They want every chance to x-reference a phonenumber / full-name by region/city, then scrape the FB profile to the DB. That's even scarier since each contact that matches could also contain that contact's FB data.
Click to expand...

What's really scary is that if you're friend downloads this app, they will collect all your personal information from their phone and Facebook, without your consent.
 
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I did it, tried it and don't like the fact that the vmail gets transfered to their servers. I deprogrammed everything SO FAST.
 
Mildredop said:
I won't download who app, but my name, address, phone number, birthday etc will be stored in the phone of people who will. So it's a privacy nightmare for people who won't even use the app.

Seems unfair that my details will be shared without my consent.
Click to expand...

Might include your picture too.
[doublepost=1463584853][/doublepost]
penajmz said:
I did it, tried it and don't like the fact that the vmail gets transfered to their servers. I deprogrammed everything SO FAST.
Click to expand...

Too late. They got you. :(
 
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DipDog3 said:
What's really scary is that if you're friend downloads this app, they will collect all your personal information from their phone and Facebook, without your consent.
Click to expand...

And then if your friends who use this publically share their friends...
 
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Yeah, this app likely won't last long in the App Store. I'm not overly concerned with big corporations like Alphabet/Google that provide me a service in exchange for knowing about me and my contacts. However, I am concerned about small no-name companies who purport to do the same. Alphabet/Google has a lot to lose if they start engaging in nefarious practices with people's data. No-name companies with next to no money have next to nothing to lose. Sue them, you say? Ok, but you won't get much because there's not much to be gotten.
 
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DipDog3 said:
What's really scary is that if you're friend downloads this app, they will collect all your personal information from their phone and Facebook, without your consent.
Click to expand...

TrueCaller does the exact same thing with contact access, for anyone who's paying attention to how these types of apps work.
 
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All the test phones I've called from didn't pull up any information the built-in dialer didn't already do. Unknown called from "Somewhere, US" is still an Unknown caller from "Somewhere, US" - but with a ~map~ of the general location...
 
kemal said:
What is the profit model? Are they tracking our calling habbits?
Click to expand...
Their profit model is the collection of all of your contacts data, which is key to their services. They can then share your contacts with others to provide caller info on numbers not in their own contacts list. They can also use your contacts for their other app that lets a person make calls as a spoofed number.

Basically, you are providing them with a pool of phone numbers for robo-dialers to use which will then appear more legit to the people receiving the call. Instead of receiving spam calls from an unrecognized number and ignoring it, you are giving them what they need to enable robo-dialers to spam call you posed as a phone number you recognize and will likely actually answer.
 
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avanpelt said:
Yeah, this app likely won't last long in the App Store. I'm not overly concerned with big corporations like Alphabet/Google that provide me a service in exchange for knowing about me and my contacts. However, I am concerned about small no-name companies who purport to do the same. Alphabet/Google has a lot to lose if they start engaging in nefarious practices with people's data. No-name companies with next to no money have next to nothing to lose. Sue them, you say? Ok, but you won't get much because there's not much to be gotten.
Click to expand...

I can actually imagine a marketing company (including a telemarketing company) behind this. They can block their competitors while gathering valuable data for themselves and to sell to advertisers, or some other uses.

And the users (suckers) do all the work for them.
 
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Has anyone figured out how to get rid of it? It makes you put some sort of code into the dialer
 
Downloaded it, tried it out, blocked a few spam numbers, deleted it. Nice concept, but privacy is pretty big for me.
 
vsthsd said:
No kidding. Their privacy policy:

"When you give WhoApp permission to do so, WhoApp accesses your mobile phone’s address book and collects the names, phone numbers, addresses and certain other information about your contacts ("Contact Information"). WhoApp incorporates Contact Information into a database that it maintains of all its users’ contacts (“Contacts Database “). When your Contact Information is incorporated into the Contacts Database, it is no longer linked or linkable back to you. The Contacts Database is used by WhoApp and by apps that are offered by the company that offers WhoApp (or its affiliates) to fulfill customers’ requests for service and to improve each app’s services for its customers. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IF YOUR PHONE’S ADDRESS BOOK CONTAINS AN ENTRY FOR YOU, THAT INFORMATION WILL BE DOWNLOADED TO THE CONTACTS DATABASE JUST LIKE ANY OTHER CONTACT INFORMATION."

No thanks - I don't want my friends/family (with address and pictures?) to be entered in here, and I hope they wouldn't either.

Edit: Is this even legal? Sharing personal information of others w/o consent? This is really scary/sketchy stuff. If each phone has an average of say, 50 contacts, and they get 100,000 users...
Click to expand...

Can't you just let iOS disallow them to access your Contacts list? Or does the app actually refuse to function without needing to see your contacts app?

In any case, thanks for the head's up.
 
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Instead of writing PSAs to warn users, a number of news outlets (including MacRumors and CNET) have turned their press release into articles, giving them free advertising. Now more and more users are feeding them information as they sit back and watch.

They must be laughing so hard right now.
 
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It changes your conditional call forwarding and stops calls from going to regular voice mail to identify numbers. If you remove the app you have to reset the call forwarding to get your calls answered by voice mail. I'm also worried that it might save your phone book on their servers. So I deleted the app.
 
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Everyone knows I'm the last person to yell and scream "privacy" but this app is exactly that.. No way in heck do I think this should be OK.
 
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