Your location is one of the most personal pieces of information your smartphone can collect, making it important to pay attention to which apps have access to it.
Many smartphone users may not realize just how many apps can use location data, especially if they give the apps permission without thinking twice or really comprehending what they’re doing when first downloading an app out of excitement or anticipation. Depending on the app and your settings, location information can be used to personalize the content you see, connect you with nearby people, or potentially lead to something more dangerous. Read more about two commonly used apps tech experts say you might not realize are tracking your data below.
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1. Bumble
Bumble is one of today's most popular dating apps out there, along with Hinge and Tinder, and has helped people find romantic relationships over the years. However, your location plays an important role in how the dating app works, since it uses your location to show you potential matches in your area, and the app has gotten into hot water with data and privacy advocacy groups.
"Most people assume a dating app's biggest privacy risk is someone seeing your profile," explains cybersecurity and trade compliance professional Rashmi Mandayam. "The real risk is far less visible. Bumble has faced documented complaints for sending personal profile data to OpenAI without explicit user consent and has been pressed by Mozilla and a coalition of privacy organizations to clarify whether it sells sensitive user data, including information belonging to domestic violence survivors and LGBTQ+ users whose safety depends on that data staying private. The intimacy of what dating apps know about you makes them uniquely dangerous when privacy practices are unclear."
2. TikTok
If you're reading this, there's a strong chance you have TikTok downloaded to your phone or have been sent a TikTok video by a loved one. That's because it's one of the most popular and commonly used social media apps out there right now. Despite its popularity, it has been notorious for its history of data usage and potential privacy risks for users.
"TikTok requests location access during setup, and many users grant it," notes cybersecurity expert Chris Nhyuis. "What's less obvious is that TikTok's terms and conditions, just like Instagram's, allow the app to know your approximate location through your IP address, SIM card data, and GPS coordinates, feeding that information into its recommendation algorithm. Just like many of these apps, TikTok knows not just what you like to watch, but where you are when you're watching it. Even users who deny location permissions are still giving TikTok enough information to approximate where they are, which is exactly the kind of false security I'm talking about."
