Now Apps Can Track You Even After You Uninstall Them
Now Apps Can Track You Even After You Uninstall Them
By Gerrit De Vynck October 22 2018, 9:05 PM
(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- If it seems as though the app
you deleted last week is suddenly popping up everywhere, it may not be mere
coincidence. Companies that cater to app makers have found ways to game both
iOS and Android, enabling them to figure out which users have uninstalled a
given piece of software lately—and making it easy to pelt the departed with ads
aimed at winning them back.
Adjust, AppsFlyer, MoEngage, Localytics, and CleverTap
are among the companies that offer uninstall trackers, usually as part of a
broader set of developer tools. Their customers include T-Mobile US, Spotify
Technology, and Yelp. (And Bloomberg Businessweek parent Bloomberg LP, which
uses Localytics.) Critics say they’re a fresh reason to reassess online privacy
rights and limit what companies can do with user data. “Most tech companies are
not giving people nuanced privacy choices, if they give them choices at all,”
says Jeremy Gillula, tech policy director at the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a privacy advocate.
Some providers say these tracking tools are meant to
measure user reaction to app updates and other changes. Jude McColgan, chief
executive officer of Boston’s Localytics, says he hasn’t seen clients use the
technology to target former users with ads. Ehren Maedge, vice president for
marketing and sales at MoEngage Inc. in San Francisco, says it’s up to the app
makers not to do so. “The dialogue is between our customers and their end
users,” he says. “If they violate users’ trust, it’s not going to go well for
them.” Adjust, AppsFlyer, and CleverTap didn’t respond to requests for comment,
nor did T-Mobile, Spotify, or Yelp.
Uninstall tracking exploits a core element of Apple
Inc.’s and Google’s mobile operating systems: push notifications. Developers
have always been able to use so-called silent push notifications to ping
installed apps at regular intervals without alerting the user—to refresh an
inbox or social media feed while the app is running in the background, for
example. But if the app doesn’t ping the developer back, the app is logged as
uninstalled, and the uninstall tracking tools add those changes to the file
associated with the given mobile device’s unique advertising ID, details that
make it easy to identify just who’s holding the phone and advertise the app to
them wherever they go.
The tools violate Apple and Google policies against using
silent push notifications to build advertising audiences, says Alex Austin, CEO
of Branch Metrics Inc., which makes software for developers but chose not to
create an uninstall tracker. “It’s just generally sketchy to track people
around the internet after they’ve opted out of using your product,” he says,
adding that he expects Apple and Google to crack down on the practice soon.
Apple and Google didn’t respond to requests for comment.
At its best, uninstall tracking can be used to fix bugs
or otherwise refine apps without having to bother users with surveys or more
intrusive tools. But the ability to abuse the system beyond its original intent
exemplifies the bind that accompanies the modern internet, says Gillula. To
participate, users must typically agree to share their data freely, probably
forever, not knowing exactly how it may be used down the road. “As an app
developer, I would expect to be able to know how many people have uninstalled
an app,” he says. “I would not say that, as an app developer, you have a right
to know exactly who installed and uninstalled your app.”
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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