We’re coming close to the end of November and if you’re a shopping enthusiast, then we bet you’re bracing for the grand Black Friday sale.
The best bargains and shopping deals on your favorite products are slowly and steadily arriving. But did you know that popular shopping apps are offering more than just the best steal prices? They’re also on a mission to steal your data!
Yes, many platforms use such campaigns to track users of their personal information. And with more than 50% of the global population turning to online shopping apps, it makes sense why these places target shoppers the most.
A single click can get you the best deal but also cost you your privacy, experts reveal. After downloading the shopping app, you are bombarded with a host of privacy policies and permissions that you must click on for access. Most of these permissions are needed for the platform to function and might pose risks to private information.
To get more details on this front, an analysis of the world’s top shopping apps was taken from Google’s Play Store. The study’s goal was to highlight anyone with dangerous permissions and to see which ones were hungry for user data.
Dangerous permissions come in the form of providing apps with more access to restricted information or letting the app do things that might impact your system or personal information. Ideally, app developers should design platforms that only ask for permission for things that will impact the app’s functionality. However, studies proved that this is not always the case.
Many shopping apps ask for permissions that are dangerous and compromise the user’s privacy. This includes access to personal details like location, contacts, files, and even the camera.
Moving on to which apps users need to be mindful of when shopping online, we’ve got a few you might want to note down. Leading the dangerous app list, we have the popular Tata Neu platform from India that goes as far as to demand 19 dangerous permissions.
Secondly, we’ve got Taobao from China which again asks for up to 18 different dangerous permissions. The same is Lazada who is third for asking for 17 dangerous permissions. All of the platforms mentioned get access to the user’s location, microphone, and camera. They can also read contacts and gain access to files and calendars stored on phones.
Moving on to which platforms are safe and worth trying if you’re in that part of the world, it’s the Spanish app Wallapop and Amazon India Shop. They do not request any kind of dangerous permissions. The same is the case for JUMIA from Nigeria and Action from the land of the Dutch.
Users need to be wary of apps that ask for permission to post notifications often. This ends up getting misused the most as malicious platforms could send users phishing scams, misinformation, and unwanted ads. Therefore, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
H/T: Cybernews
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The best bargains and shopping deals on your favorite products are slowly and steadily arriving. But did you know that popular shopping apps are offering more than just the best steal prices? They’re also on a mission to steal your data!
Yes, many platforms use such campaigns to track users of their personal information. And with more than 50% of the global population turning to online shopping apps, it makes sense why these places target shoppers the most.
A single click can get you the best deal but also cost you your privacy, experts reveal. After downloading the shopping app, you are bombarded with a host of privacy policies and permissions that you must click on for access. Most of these permissions are needed for the platform to function and might pose risks to private information.
To get more details on this front, an analysis of the world’s top shopping apps was taken from Google’s Play Store. The study’s goal was to highlight anyone with dangerous permissions and to see which ones were hungry for user data.
Dangerous permissions come in the form of providing apps with more access to restricted information or letting the app do things that might impact your system or personal information. Ideally, app developers should design platforms that only ask for permission for things that will impact the app’s functionality. However, studies proved that this is not always the case.
Many shopping apps ask for permissions that are dangerous and compromise the user’s privacy. This includes access to personal details like location, contacts, files, and even the camera.
Moving on to which apps users need to be mindful of when shopping online, we’ve got a few you might want to note down. Leading the dangerous app list, we have the popular Tata Neu platform from India that goes as far as to demand 19 dangerous permissions.
Secondly, we’ve got Taobao from China which again asks for up to 18 different dangerous permissions. The same is Lazada who is third for asking for 17 dangerous permissions. All of the platforms mentioned get access to the user’s location, microphone, and camera. They can also read contacts and gain access to files and calendars stored on phones.
Moving on to which platforms are safe and worth trying if you’re in that part of the world, it’s the Spanish app Wallapop and Amazon India Shop. They do not request any kind of dangerous permissions. The same is the case for JUMIA from Nigeria and Action from the land of the Dutch.
Users need to be wary of apps that ask for permission to post notifications often. This ends up getting misused the most as malicious platforms could send users phishing scams, misinformation, and unwanted ads. Therefore, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
| App Name | Number of Risky Permissions Requested |
|---|---|
| Tata Neu | 19 |
| Taobao | 18 |
| Lazada | 17 |
| Shopee PH | 16 |
| Amazon Shopping | 16 |
| Flipcart | 16 |
| Aliexpress | 16 |
| Snapdeal | 14 |
| Made-In-China | 14 |
| Shopee Lite | 14 |
| Akulaku | 14 |
| Daraz | 14 |
| Tokopedia | 13 |
| FirstCry India | 13 |
| Alfagift | 13 |
| Turkcell | 12 |
| Hepsiburada | 12 |
| DHgate | 12 |
| Savana | 12 |
| Samsung Shop | 11 |
| Shop Back | 11 |
| CityMall | 11 |
| Jio Mart | 11 |
| AJIO | 11 |
| SHEIN | 11 |
| LimeRoad | 10 |
| Purplle | 10 |
| Sam's Club Mexico | 10 |
| Trendyol | 10 |
| Lenskart | 10 |
| Costco Wholesale | 10 |
| Bigbasket | 10 |
| Shop_All | 10 |
| Tata CLiQ | 9 |
| Nike | 9 |
| Noon Shopping | 9 |
| Hacoo | 9 |
| Zara | 9 |
| Tira | 8 |
| Wallmart | 8 |
| OLX | 8 |
| Max Fashion India | 8 |
| Leroy Merlin | 8 |
| Ebay Online Shopping | 8 |
| Spin Premia | 8 |
| CIDER | 7 |
| Joom | 7 |
| Kleinanzeigen | 7 |
| Pazarama | 7 |
| GIVA | 7 |
| Wayfair | 7 |
| Back Market | 7 |
| N11 | 6 |
| TikTok Shop Seller Center | 6 |
| Lessy | 6 |
| Cureskin | 5 |
| Kueski | 5 |
| Lidl | 5 |
| Zalando | 5 |
| MamaEarth | 5 |
| DMart | 4 |
| Maxizoo | 4 |
| Mein dm | 4 |
| Sinsay | 4 |
| AUTODOC | 4 |
| IKEA | 3 |
| Action | 2 |
| JUMIA | 1 |
| Meesho | 1 |
| Amazon India Shop | 0 |
| Wallapop | 0 |
H/T: Cybernews
Read next:
• Gemini’s New Memory Feature Will Change Chatbots Forever—Say Goodbye to Annoying Repetitions!
• Instagram's 'Following Hashtags' Feature Is Going Away — Here's Why
