When you download an app you might have to pay for it. The app is run through Apple’s Store so it’s probably safe right?

Maybe. When was the last time that you checked to see who the author or developer of the app was? Are they reputable? Are they a company? An individual?

When you downloaded then loaded an app, what information were you asked to provide? Were you asked for an email? A phone number? How about a home address?

Believe it or not, all of the above has been asked within apps in the past. Sometimes this info is taken without you knowing it.

Questioning the fact that an app knows where you live?

Do you happen to allow location tracking with any of your apps? If you do, more than likely you go home to sleep at night correct? Do you think that the app doesn’t recognize where you go every day? Or where you are when you are using it? That’s the whole point of location tracking after all isn’t it? To track you?

Now let’s talk about websites. When you visit a website there are these things called “cookies”. These should be called bread crumbs. You recall Hansel and Gretel right?

To explain cookies simply, when you visit a website that has cookies enabled they are able to see where you go from that website. At each new website you visit thereafter, you leave a breadcrumb. Those websites can then use that data to target you and the others that visited their website with new information and new data. You’re basically leaving a trail for them to follow.

So are apps safer than websites? No. They might track you or your information a little differently than a website, but that doesn’t make them safer. It doesn’t necessarily make them unsafe either. You just need to be aware and judicious of what information you are providing.

If you’re bored and want to know the kind of information an app collects, try reading the privacy agreement in the app store. It’s quite…informative.

Or if you don’t feel like reading all that fancy jargon give us a call at 208 344 1115, or shoot us an email at hello@matraex.com. We’d love to break down app security versus website security for you.