Cybersecurity experts warn these 'data hungry' apps could be spying on your location and accessing your microphone
Some of the biggest apps in the world are considered 'data hungry' by cybersecurity experts, as they hold dangerous levels of access to your phone's location data and microphone.
You'd be hard pressed to find a smartphone that doesn't have at least one of the most popular apps on it, especially in the social media space, and most people have multiple installed onto their pocket-fitting gadgets.
While you can't blame people for wanting to post their holiday snaps to Instagram or stay up to date with the latest news on X, these apps request access to some of your phone's most important and valuable data, and it has left many concerned.
As reported by the Daily Mail, consumer choice company Which? has tested many of the biggest and most popular apps on Apple and Google's respective app stores, and the results are illuminating.
What have experts identified as concerning about these apps?
According to cybersecurity experts, many of these apps ask for 'risky' permissions that they don't actually need, typically asking for users to provide their location data alongside persistent access to their camera and microphone.
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While some apps do benefit from having these activated, they can actually compromise your privacy and allow companies to access data you might want to keep hidden.
"Millions of us rely on apps each day to help with everything from keeping on top of our health and fitness to doing online shopping," outlined Which? editor Harry Rose.
"While many of these apps appear to be free to use, our research has shown how users are in fact paying with their data, often in scarily vast quantities."
Outside of adverts, the biggest reason why so many apps are able to stay free of charge is because of the data benefits that developers can gain from its users, and there's a good chance that you're part of that right now.
Having all of the top 20 most popular apps downloaded on your phone at the same time would mean that you could grant a collective total of 882 permissions, giving a frightening insight into the level of access these tools are given to your phone and life.
Which apps are considered to be the most risky?
Based on the testing from Which?, apps that score highly on both the number of asked permissions and the percentage of those that are considered 'risky' are ones you might want to be more careful around on your phone.
By far the biggest offender in the company's testing was Chinese app Xiaomi Home, which asks for 91 permissions in total, with five of those being considered risky.
Samsung's 'Smart Things' app came in second place with a lower total of 82 permissions, but eight of those were risky, posing a greater danger than Xiaomi Home despite asking for less.
Meta's apps were also considered to be ones to pay attention to, as both Facebook (69 permissions with 6 considered risky) and WhatsApp (66 permissions with 6 considered risky) were high on the list.