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Comment by BlueTemplar | Hacker News Reader

As a reminder, most popular Android apps send data to Facebook :

https://9to5google.com/2018/12/31/android-apps-facebook/

As a reminder (from first hand experience with mobile development for major companies), the iOS versions of those apps do the same. Even more so, all of those tracking SDKs are targeting iOS first, Android second.

Please don't feel safe on iOS just because Apple marketing is blasting misleading claims at you.

Sure..but they make sure you know about it before you install the app in the first place.

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/

Same deal with Android. If you really want privacy a root access Android phone is the way to go as it can provide junk data when apps ask for details.

That's weird. How come they say nothing about iOS?

My assumption would be it's a lot more difficult to reverse engineer apps on iOS.

You can see a list of apps that share you activity with facebook here (even if you didn't install any facebook app on your phone or didn't use facebook login feature) :

https://www.facebook.com/off_facebook_activity/activity_list

(click "Manage Your Off-Facebook Activity" on the right if you're on desktop)

This requires a facebook account, though they likely do have data from those not registered.

They absolutely do, and it sucks that there's no way to view it or request deletion.

Sure there is. If they’re holding personal data on you, they legally have to provide it (and optionally delete it) when issued with a Subject Access Request under GDPR.

I have tried requesting personal data from one company. They quickly said they didn't have anything associated with me; I believe it's just identified by an id that I don't know and that isn't linked directly to myself.

I wouldn't be surprised if they did not link email addresses (and other user-accessible identifiers such as a phone number) anymore just to avoid having to give you your data if you request it.

I do not live in a place subject to the GDPR.

Look up "shadow profile".

Wow. I had no idea this existed. In my case, over 600 apps and services that I had no idea were connecting to Facebook. Is there no way to turn this off?

There is a "Clear history" button, but it does not delete the data. Here is the message you see once clicked:

Clear your off-Facebook activity from your account?

Here are some things to know:

- Your activity history will be disconnected from your account. This does not currently include Oculus activity. We'll continue to receive your activity from the businesses and organisations that you visit in the future.

- Clearing your history may log you out of XXX and YYY other apps and websites. If this happens, you can still use Facebook to log back in.

- You'll still see the same number of ads. Your ad preferences and actions that you take on Facebook will be used to show you relevant ads.

I love whenever somebody criticise apple, they mention android :)

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