Have you ever deleted an app due to privacy concerns?
Abadesi
45 replies
I've removed some apps because of the privacy setting requirements e.g. access to contacts when I don't feel its an essential part of enjoying the app's features. Curious to see the results.
Replies
Jim Hodgkins@jimhodgkins
The location privacy is still too unclear in many apps that want to use your location now to do one task, are they then tracking you - weather, restaurant booking etc
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@jimhodgkins agreed, location while app is not in use always feels like a dodgy request
I can't remember doing that. But I feel like it's more an Android issue because on iPhone, if I don't want an app to use the contacts, I just don't grant it access to them. There's no blanket agreement like on the Play Store. But maybe there are some examples I don't know about.
@emmanuelhadoux interesting. But sometimes removing access in iPhone settings restricts the appās features eg if you remove camera access for Instagram you canāt post photos from your existing photo library
@emmanuelhadoux I believe this is the way it used to work long time ago, but not anymore, permissions are requested on-demand on Android too, now.
@abadesi Fair enough, but if I'm not mistaken, Instagram asks you twice: 1 for the access to the library and another time to access the live camera. In any case, I think we can say that photos is an essential part of Instagram. The only situation I can think of would be apps that require you to log in through Facebook to use it.
@emmanuelhadoux I still find it odd that removing only live camera access stops someone from being able to post existing photos from their library. Same with mic access.
@john_bauer1 No, no more facebook and other apps ;) I'm "detoxing my centralized life" haha!
@john_bauer1 privacy matters really matters to me - for real :)
Facebook š
My girlfriend loves to play the puzzle game Apps you see ads for on Instagram or Facebook, but i personally never feel comfortable with them on my phone because the security checks that the app store uses can miss alot of fairly malicious things. So i pretty much always delete the apps after she's done with them.
@henry_zhang3 that's understandable! thanks for sharing.
I think I've opted not to install an app at all based on requested permissions (on android) but also have removed apps that were useless after I denied their seemingly-unrelated permission requests (iOS). But the latter is much more rare.
Lang.hindi.me
My.mo.9870319455
I think the nope, never really is more of an indicator of how few apps you install or how careful you are. ex: i installed telegram last night (only 1 of 12 or so apps i have currently installed) i uninstalled it about 3 minutes later when i realized i couldnt make the notification about importanting my contacts go away. :)
@james_scheibel haha very good point! only 12 apps - wow so minimalist!
@abadesi as an app designer/developer, its actually the hardest part about coming up with anything new. junk (no-value,invasive or annoying) gets uninstalled. when i make something i ask myself "is this junk?" (to me) i've never understood why people install apps they dont use or dont like (or do the same things as other apps) but i realize i'm a tiny tiny minority.
Yes, I've deleted a few. I'm amazed at the amount of permissions some apps ask for, games being particularly bad.
I'm so tired of the privacy hype and fud.
I remember , first ever app to be uninstalled from my phone due to privacy concerns was UC Browser
Same here, I've done this a couple of times, when I notice that the app asks for more permissions than it actually requires, then it's a problem, I uninstall this type of apps.
@abishekhkc yes, apps need some permissions. But Some apps ask for such permission which they should not ask for.
@john_bauer1 almost all apps need access to something. Atleast storage access permission.
I have used Videoder app for a long time. It's one of the best app available to download videos from anywhere. But this app is not available in Playstore. I have downloaded this from their site. But when i need to download any video from a private facebook group, i should login facebook through app's built in browser. I have seriously considering this. I think there might be some security issues in future. I don't know why this app is not published in Playstore.
I removed the Weather Channel App because of this
Lol I don't notice too much. I guess I barely post anything that's crazy private so generally I don't mind if people look at my stuff
Dragula
Facebook, Instagram, ShareIt, sooooo many more. Like, why tf do you need to know my location, random Flashlight app? Time to go!
@talwarutkarsh hahaha I have similar conversations with apps š