The Most Invasive Apps on Your Phone—and Why You Should Delete Them

Most apps (not Redact.dev!) want your data - it helps them in a variety of ways, to reach a simple end - make more money.

Some apps are transparent about this, while others bury relevant clauses deep within their privacy policies and terms of service.

With rapidly changing regulations around technology and AI, and instability in the existence and ownership of platforms (e.g. TikTok Ban/unban, the pending LinkedIn Lawsuit or OpenAI Lawsuit) - it's never been more critical to understand who’s handling your data, and how.

PCMag recently published research conducted by the Head of IT Infrastructure for Nsoft (gaming and sportsbook platform), revealing the most data-hungry apps, based on the volume of your data they harvest, and what they use it for.

The Worst Offenders: Social Media Apps

It should come as no surprise that social media apps are some of the most invasive. They rely on collecting massive amounts of personal data to function.?

The biggest culprits include:

• Meta apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads) – Meta is notorious for its data-harvesting practices, with its apps sharing over 68% of your personal data with third parties.
• LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) – These apps collect extensive user information to fuel their algorithms and advertising models, though they are not as worrying as the Meta apps.
• WhatsApp Business – Unlike standard WhatsApp, which offers end-to-end encryption (E2EE), WhatsApp Business lacks full E2EE, meaning Meta and potentially others can access message content. The platform also collects a massive 57.1% of your personal information simply to function.?

Big Tech’s Data Appetite

Other major tech companies also appear on the list, including:

• Google’s suite of apps (inc. YouTube) – Gmail, Google Maps, Google Pay, and Google itself are heavy data collectors. While Gmail is more private, the other apps share significant amounts of user data. YouTube, owned by Google, shares a significant portion (31%) of its collected data with third parties.
• Amazon – Amazon surprisingly shares little data with third parties (under 6%), but it still collects a massive 68.6% of your data for app functionality, and 54.3% for analytics.?
• PayPal – This finance app ranks high in data collection, collecting 65.7% of your data for mysterious “other purposes” - including your browsing history, contacts, device ID, financial information, location, photos, search history, and videos. Sounds like a lot of questionable data.

The Unexpected Culprits

Some apps you wouldn’t expect to be invasive still make the list:

• Games like Candy Crush Saga and Roblox – These popular titles collect user data but claim to share little with third parties.
• Duolingo – The language learning app shares around 20% of its collected data with others.
• Uber & Uber Eats – These apps need location data to function, but they also track user habits extensively. Interestingly, Lyft and DoorDash are considerably less invasive by comparison.
• Dating apps like Bumble and Tinder – While collecting personal details is necessary for matching users, it’s worth remembering that your messages, photos, and profile data become part of a corporate data portfolio.

How to Protect Your Data

There are a number of ways to address this problem, with varying degrees of effectiveness.

1. Delete The App - consider using a browser based version instead, or moving to a new platform if you can.
2. Check Privacy Reports – In the App Store or Play Store, look for the Privacy section of an app before downloading.
3. Review Permissions – If a calculator app is asking for access to your contacts, that’s a red flag.
4. Delete Unused Apps – If you haven’t opened an app in months, there’s no reason to let it keep collecting data, even if it’s not one of the worst offenders.
5. Limit Third-Party Access – Reduce tracking by disabling unnecessary permissions and opting out of data-sharing settings where possible. You can opt-out of your data being used with AI models on most platforms; and you can find guides to do this here!

Stay in Control of Your Privacy

You don’t need to give up all modern conveniences, but awareness is key. Take a few minutes to review the apps on your phone and make informed choices about which ones deserve access to your personal data. Consider adjusting privacy or data sharing settings on invasive apps.

Ensuring you have a well-managed digital footprint is a fantastic practice for any privacy-conscious individual. Minimizing your footprint's size and the volume of your personal data businesses are collecting can help keep your data more secure.

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