TL;DR version:
Several popular iOS apps, including Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter, have been found to be collecting user data through notifications, even when the app is closed, according to tests conducted by security researchers at Mysk Inc. The data collected includes IP addresses, device information, and other identifiable details, which can be used for targeted advertising and tracking purposes. While some of the companies involved have denied the allegations, the researchers claim that the data collection is unnecessary for notification processing and appears to be related to analytics and tracking. The issue is believed to be widespread among iOS apps, and Apple’s lack of enforcement of its own privacy rules has been criticized. Upcoming changes to the iPhone operating system’s rules may help address the problem, but it remains to be seen how effectively they will be enforced.
Mitigating the issue:
- According to a reply from the researchers under their video:
Disabling the notifications prevents this from happening, but you have to toggle the option “Allow Notifications” of the app off. Allowing the notifications while disabling the alerts isn’t enough.
- Another article from BleepingComputer similarly notes that:
iPhone users who want to evade this fingerprinting should disable push notifications entirely. Unfortunately, making notifications silent will not prevent abuse. To disable notifications, open ‘Settings,’ head to ‘Notifications,’ select the app you want to manage notifications for and tap the toggle to disable ‘Allow Notifications.’
As a mobile app developer I promise that you want to have push notifications that are capable of doing meaningful work on your phone. Apps are often entirely dead but a push notification from a central server will still get you X/Y/Z functionality.
Companies abuse this to then track you, and harvest endless amounts of information but the alternative is your phone no longer notified you of anything and the majority of background functionality for your apps dies entirely.
What I wish would happen is that mobile OSes have another set of location/network permissions for push notifications.
At least for the apps in the excerpt, no big worry if you don’t get the notification. Use the mobile site if possible/necessary.
Agreed though on the permissions bit.