Security researchers are sounding the alarm: Popular iPhone apps such as Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are said to be able to secretly collect user data. Supposedly harmless push notifications are enough to access detailed information.
Popular iOS apps under suspicion
A new investigation by security researchers claims to show that some of the most popular iPhone apps are far less harmless than they seem at first glance. Apps like Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn should can secretly collect user data (Those: Musk bei Twitter/X).
According to Mysk researchers, Abusing app push notifications to extract detailed information from iOS devices and send it to servers. The fact that this option exists at all is thanks to a special feature of iOS. Since the introduction of iOS 10, apps can briefly become active in the background after receiving a push notification.
This function, which was originally intended for processing push notifications, is now apparently being misused. During this time, the affected apps can provide information such as: System operating time, language settingsmemory, battery status and even display brightness.
As soon as a push notification arrives, the affected app wakes up and can then execute arbitrary code in the background, according to the security researchers. They warn that collecting device data can create detailed profiles for tracking purposes.
Not only push notifications, but also spam calls can be blocked:
App spying: This is how you can protect yourself
Currently, iPhone users can only avoid data collection by Generally deactivate push notifications from the corresponding apps. However, Apple is planning a change for spring: developers will then have to make it clear for what purpose they are using APIs that can be used to create detailed profiles.
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