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There are zillions of apps offered by app stores of different operating systems. The abundance and popularity of these apps have got us hooked. You can find hundreds of great apps from the genres of photography, texting, videoconferencing, gaming, and so on.
The point of concern is that we tend to download these apps first and think about privacy issues later. Who has time to skim through the terms and conditions anyway! We skip them all the time. But why are they significant? Because your identity online and Internet safety are important. It’s only advisable to be more conscious whilst downloading various apps. Let’s figure out everything related to privacy issues and free apps.
Table of Contents
Can You Trust Free Apps?
Researchers have recently discovered more than 1,000 free apps, which bend the rules and compromise your privacy. And this can happen even when you don’t allow the app to. These apps gather a lot of info about you using geolocation data, phone identifiers, and in other ways without the knowledge of the owner.
This is creepy considering that you have tons of confidential stuff on your phone. This includes your name, passwords, photos, credit card info, and location details. Unfortunately, there’s no way to figure out if a certain app is tracking you. And consider the fact that there’s no foolproof protection in these ever-evolving technologies.
Even the apps, which you think are safe can become corrupt if the parent company sells them off or plan to change their direction. Most importantly, people have limited knowledge of Internet security protection. And they don’t seem to pay any attention.
The Truth about Permission Settings
Recently, Zoom, a video-conferencing app, became massively popular. Even companies began using it for their professional meetings. Now it is revealed that there are certain serious privacy concerns related to the app. and it has been leaking email IDs. So much so that companies like NASA and Google have banned the app. And no, these privacy concerns have nothing to do with your ISP.
No matter how many times your Cox Internet Ultimate plan advertised about guaranteed security systems, they can’t stop you from downloading the wrong apps.
Similarly, a photo-editing app called FaceApp gained heavy popularity. People found it interesting because it showed how would the older-you look like, and finding resemblances between you and your grandparents was intriguing. Many people across the globe downloaded the app without pausing to read the terms and conditions.
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Only a handful of users noticed what the terms and conditions actually said. The app gets to have an irrevocable, perpetual, and transferable license to use, modify, reproduce, and distribute your photos. And there’s a lot more indigestible stuff to it. You just press the accept button recklessly only to have a few moments of fun on your social networking sites. These are not the only apps, which pose a threat to your personal data. So it’s really important that you skim through the terms and conditions of each app at least once. No harm in being extra cautious!
Complete, Foolproof Security is Unachievable
We can at least try! However, it can happen to anyone from individuals to the tech giants of the world. companies like Google, Capital One, and NASA haven’t been spared. This makes it clear that invasion of personal info has become a critical problem. It’s just like using public Wi-Fi. We all know how using it can compromise our security and privacy.
Therefore, understand the gravity of the issue and give a thorough read to the terms and conditions. Especially when the policy manual that appears before downloading an app looks shady.
We are going to share some effective tips to avoid compromising privacy while downloading and using free apps.
Protecting Your Privacy
Take advantage of the following checklist to keep privacy and security issue at bay:
- Be mindful of whatever you download on your phone.
- Make a habit to skim through the terms and conditions always.
- Go through the policy manual even if it is long.
- If an app asks for a password, try creating a unique one.
- Don’t use that password anywhere else.
- Don’t use one password for all apps, email IDs, social media accounts, etc.
- Parents need to know effective tips to keep their kids safe online.
- While adding extensions to your browser, read the terms and conditions.
- Make a habit to create strong and unique passwords.
Just like we create a guest Wi-Fi to keep our home network safe, taking these precautions is also important to avoid apps from accessing and using your personal data.
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