Apps are the ultimate in convenience. They can also collect a lot of sensitive information about you – and share that data with other companies, such as Google and Facebook, for targeted advertising.
“So, they are trying to track you whether it is within their device and in their platform or when you’re outside of their platform as well,” said Amira Dhalla, a privacy expert at Consumer Reports.
CR says you may have some control over this data collection.
“If you are on an Apple computer or phone, you simply go into your operating system settings, and you will have an option to tell all apps not to track you,” Dhalla explained. “This is a new one by Apple in iPhone, so it really is a step up to being able to adjust your settings across all apps and devices.”
The privacy protections provided on Android devices is not as robust. You can tell your Android phone not to share its special advertising ID number, CR says, but apps are allowed to keep tracking you using other methods. You can also try going into the setting for each app to limit what is collected.
More Info: 30-Second Privacy Fixes: Simple Ways to Protect Your Data