Privacy

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Time to Delete? The Most Invasive Apps List Includes Some of Your Favorites (www.pcmag.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

How does that help?

I didn't read the article, I came here for the jokes but then you got me curious

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

So my understanding is that

apps can let them collect a lot more data than the website version. Apps have access to a bunch of device APIs, they might be running all the time vs a website tab that you close afterwards, etc.
you just open a link vs. logging in through the play store

On top of that if you want to lock down further, it's easier to use a privacy respecting browser than it is to sandbox the apps to. For the average person it's easier to go from using the app to opening the website in a browser, than it is to swap their OS to GrapheneOS and set up sandboxing

That's also why a lot of websites mess with the mobile site, they want you to use the app

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I can tell you exactly what data an app can connect since I'm an android developer, but not web since I can't dev JavaScript. My understanding is that the gap is quite small.

About "always running" that's a complicated scenario and that's not the best way to put into layman terms. And it has improved heaps in the last 5 years, gradually.

Marketers love these apps because they could send you notifications, " reminding" you that you've not being using the app enough and driving "engagement". There's heaps of companies whose main or only product is give marketers a dashboard to send push with pre sets targeting user profiles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Good to know, thank you!