• Psythik@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    They absolutely can, though. So many apps are secretly sending anything and everything you do in the app to 3rd parties without your knowledge. Use a firewall app that has logging and you’ll see what I mean. NetGuard is a good one for Android. (Don’t know of any for iOS cause I don’t own any Apple products, but I’m sure they’re out there.) Most major apps are selling you off to Facebook, for example. (Spotify does it.)

    At least with with a browser, you can increase your privacy settings to block trackers, and use addons like UBlock Origin and NoScript. With an app they can do whatever they want with your data without you even knowing it.

    • Whirlybird@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      So many apps are secretly sending anything and everything you do in the app to 3rd parties without your knowledge

      This is no different to websites via browsers though, so it’s a moot point.

      With an app they can do whatever they want with your data without you even knowing it.

      No, they can’t, because they don’t have access to “your data”. All they can get is usage data, which they’re entitled to because you’re using their product.

      • jet@hackertalks.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        The information available to a installed app is greater then that of a website in a browser. Full stop. You can argue till your blue in the face about what permissions you grant in iOS, but you are relying on iOS to not leak data (they do), and what they consider “tracking” - which may differ from what you consider tracking. Browsers provide much higher barriers to system information.

        There is no reason a website shouldn’t work on a phone, many cell phones today are more powerful then laptops 5-10 years ago. A progressive web app (hi Voyager!) is a excellent way to minimize development time, and provide a consistent experience across platforms (desktop, android, iOS), and it doesn’t require yet another app.

        The benefits of having a app on a device are LEGION! You get more telemetry, you get to push notifications, you get to push updates, you get access to logged in accounts on the device. You can correlate location data (by ip tracking if nothing else) even when the app isn’t in use. Depending on the operating system permissions, you can get lots of data and feed it into some analytics framework that is much greater then people realize.

        TLDR: Apps should be optional, any site that uses dark patterns to push a application install is user-hostile and doesn’t have your best interest at heart. (See Reddit).