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Why would these apps need these permissions? Sometimes it makes sense. You’ll find some interesting apps that have access to different parts of your phone, such as the Google app which will have access to your calendar, physical activity and your call logs… Plenty of apps have access to your contacts and you’ll be staggered what has access to your microphone and camera.
#HIDDENAPP REVIEW HOW TO#
If you want to wrestle back control of your privacy on your phone, below are detailed instructions on how to review and revoke access for each of your apps.
#HIDDENAPP REVIEW SOFTWARE#
The company said its software is running on about a thousand different apps and games, so it’s quite possible you have one or more of them in your library. Well, Alphonso relieds on Shazam to identify clips stored in its “data cloud” with Shamzam then selling that data back to Alphonso… who then package the data and sells it to advertisers.Īlphonso claims that its software is running on a thousand different apps and games, so it’s quite possible you have one of more of them in your app library today. You know Shazam – the greatest app of them all that at the click of a button will identify a song for you. What’s Shazam got to do with all of this? “When you see ‘permission for microphone access for ads,’ it may not be clear to a user that, Oh, this means it’s going to be listening to what I do all the time to see if I’m watching Monday Night Football,” he said. Justin Brookman (of the advocacy group Consumers Union) told the Times that the nebulous nature of the opt-in notice doesn’t provide enough detail. Which does require the consumer actually knowing about it in the first place.
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The Alphonso CEO maintains that it’s all perfectly legal and that consumers can opt out. The New York Times articles states that up to 250 games are “infected” with Alphonso and available from the Google Play store – with many of them targeted at children.
#HIDDENAPP REVIEW TV#
The site calls it a TV Data Cloud and boasts that “40 million smart TVs, set-top boxes, mobile and living room devices with embedded Alphonso technology report viewership data in real time.” It’s hard to trust a company that claims it doesn’t listen to conversations, which is a half truth because according to their website they use “advanced fingerprinting technology to identify ads and programming airing on TV in a fraction of a second, in a completely anonymous fashion.”… so yeah, they listen to what you’re doing, anonymously. Remember all the terms you accepted when installing and starting the game? Yep, you gave the app permission to listen for audio cues from TV shows and commercials so they can monitor what you’re watching. Alphonso is tracking software that’s piggybacked onto free games and apps such as Beer Pong: Trickshot and Pool 3D. Alphonso collects television viewing data via your smartphone’s microphone and on-sells that data to advertisers. And all the while, an app is running the background recording and tracking your viewing habits and using that information combined with your location to serve you up ads.Įver heard of Alphonso? The New York Times wrote a story about a data firm called Alphonso that does exactly this. It’s the stuff of science-fiction movies – you’re kicking back on the couch, mucking around on your phone while streaming Stranger Things or The Mandalorian.