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Comment by arielm | Hacker News Reader

We (Appfigures) are scanning apps for SDKs so we know which trackers, analytics, location trackers apps are using.

We’re working on a way to make that data accessible to app developers so they can learn from competitors, but having a simple way to tell if an app tracks you that doesn’t require signing up or anything like that could be an interesting idea.

Would you actually check an app before downloading/using it?

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I am very shy of downloading apps because I expect most of them to stalk me or rat me out to Facebook and don't have the time to check for myself (by using Charles Proxy or Burp Suite).

I would definitely appreciate it if there was a service that allows me to quickly check if an app is safe.

You should try my appcheckr app. Well yes, it does generate a bit of network traffic, it's, err, updating.

Noted!

There is, Exodus Privacy (see my reply on the parent comment)

There is another service that does this for Android apps:

https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en

It is also build into the Aurora Store (alternative Google Play Store client for Android).

The key here would be for you to become a search engine of apps that are "3rd-party tracking free", and then build trust with customers who value that and become a destination for app discovery.

For developers, additional traffic becomes an incentive to comply.

Ideally the certification would be made visible by the app creator when the upload the app to Apple/Android App Store so people downloading it would be able see the designation.

The problem with that is that do you really believe the developer? It needs to be a 3rd party. Ideally the store itself, but there’s no incentive for the big stores to do that.

Personally, I'd want to have the source and run that software myself - how else could I trust that the app developer didn't bribe you or find an easy way to subvert your detection?

Valid point. Getting something you can scan for installed SDKs is pretty darn hard in many cases, so I doubt most people would want to set up and maintain something to do that for a few apps...

Unfortunately, this is one case where being open-source would probably make the scanner easier to game.

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