Apple Collects Details About Every Single Thing You Do In the App Store
When the Mysk researchers examined the analytics data the iPhone collects, the data from the App Store was surprisingly detailed. And again, turning off the iPhone Analytics setting didn’t make a difference.
In the researchers’ test, the App Store harvested information about every single thing a user did in real time, including what you tapped on, which apps you search for, what ads you saw, and how long you looked at a given app and how you found it. The researchers said the digital store’s own app sent details about you and your device as well what kind of phone you used, your screen resolution, your keyboard languages, how you connected to the internet—notably, the kind of information commonly used for device fingerprinting.
The App Store might not sound particularly sensitive, but it depends on what apps you use. If you search for apps related to your religion, sexual orientation, or mental health issues, for example, then the data getting sent back to corporate servers can reveal intimate details about your life.
Gizmodo asked the researchers to examine other Apple apps. The Health and Wallet apps were more private, but Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, the iTunes Store, and Stocks all collected similar information.
You can get a glimpse at the data collection the tests found in this video.
