Free Android apps are perhaps one of the best gifts a smartphone owner can receive. But did you know that some of these free apps can connect your phone to tracker sites and ads without your knowledge?
Google Play Store and Apple's App Store are two of the main sources of games and apps for tablets and smartphones. Apple is pretty strict when it comes to approving apps that can be downloaded from the App Store, while we cannot exactly say the same for Play Store, which also accepts apps and games from open sources.
"In our work, we first develop a lightweight characterization methodology that can automatically extract descriptions of application network behavior, and apply this to a large selection of applications from the Google App Store. We find several instances of overly aggressive communication with tracking websites, of excessive communication with ad related sites, and of communication with sites previously associated with malware activity," Head Reasearcher Luigi Vigneri documented on his research for Cornell University.
There are 1.2 million apps on Google Play Store, and an estimated 2,000 of them are free apps, which are apparently connected to 250,000 sites-yes, that many sites.
The app Music Volume EQ for instance, connects to "almost 2,000 distinct URLs," according to Vigneri and his team. While the app's main function is to control the smartphone's volume, it actually has a hidden agenda, which is to connect the device to several websites that the owner is completely unaware of.
iOS users on one hand are actually safer from downloading apps such as this as the process of getting one approved by Apple is tedious. Cupertino is quite specific when it comes to accepting apps for the App Store, and has given developers a list of what they will and won't accept, which includes the following:
"We have over a million Apps in the App Store. If your App doesn't do something useful, unique or provide some form of lasting entertainment, or if your app is plain creepy, it may not be accepted," Apple said on its official App Store Review Guide.
"If your App looks like it was cobbled together in a few days, or you're trying to get your first practice App into the store to impress your friends, please brace yourself for rejection. We have lots of serious developers who don't want their quality Apps to be surrounded by amateur hour."
Many may find the list too straightforward, but hey, it's for the users' protection. If you have always been spontaneous at downloading Android apps, now is the best time to check if some of those games on your smartphone are actually connecting you to unwanted ads and tracker sites.
