I don't know if you have such a habit. Before going out in the morning, or when planning the itinerary for the next day, you will unconsciously take out your mobile phone and click on the weather app to check it. Some of these APPs are built-in smartphones, and some are third-party applications downloaded and obtained from the application store. No matter what they are, they often have one thing in common: they are all completely free services.
As the saying goes: There is no such thing as a free lunch. In the process of using weather apps for free, we may have exposed our personal privacy unknowingly, and even suffered from various potential network security risks.
1. Why Do Weather Apps Track Users?
The use scenarios of weather applications are usually relatively simple and direct. It only needs to provide corresponding weather forecast information according to the location of the mobile phone and the location specified by the user. In order to provide users with accurate information and send timely messages, it is reasonable for them to know the location access permission. However, by their very nature, there is no reason for a weather app to share your location data with third-party apps, much less to ask for access to your smartphone contacts, camera, microphone, or email address. And, that just happens to be the essential difference between this type of app and the rest.
Although some people think that sharing your personal information in order to be able to use a certain software for free is a reasonable trade-off. However, when they find out that their data information is collected and shared without explicit consent, it may not feel reasonable. However, some weather apps are doing just that.
In fact, their motives are very clear: to collect data and sell users' personal information to third parties for profit. The special value of location data is that it often enables advertisers to launch more targeted activities, thereby increasing the conversion rate of users.
2. Repeatedly found to violate user privacy
In 2017, the popular AccuWeather app was found to be continuously sending users' location data to third parties. They don't even go unnoticed for users who have turned off "location sharing" on their devices. As professional IT portal ZDNet reported at the time, AccuWeather shared the information it gathered with Reveal Mobile, a company focused on data monetization.
In 2019, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office filed a lawsuit against the Weather Channel app. The suit says the mobile app, owned by IBM, failed to disclose that it sold users' location data to third-party companies. According to Threatpost, an independent information security news site, the two parties eventually reached a certain degree of understanding.
The above are just two of the most typical cases. If you look across the industry, things could be worse than you think. The "New York Times" conducted an analysis in 2021: Among the 20 popular weather apps investigated that year, 17 were found to have collected user data for advertising purposes, while 14 were found to have collected user data for the same reason. Location information is collected. It is worth noting that the New York Times only focused on the iOS platform, so you can imagine the extent to which the Android version of the weather application violates user privacy. After all, Android offers far less privacy by default.
Of course, it should be pointed out here that not all such applications do not inform users in advance. In fact, some of these apps state up front for what purpose and how much data they collect. Of course, explanations belong to explanations, and some of the expressions cannot withstand deep digging. They may not explain to users why weather apps should collect user data and share it with advertisers and other third parties.
3. Weather apps that protect privacy
Although infringement of user privacy is a common phenomenon in mobile applications, even the built-in weather apps of mobile phones cannot guarantee compliance. However, there are still some applications in the industry "Qingliu" that truly respect user privacy. Below, I'll discuss three of the most typical weather apps.
1. Hello Weather
Hello Weather, developed by the independent company Electric Dream Machine, is a simple and useful app. It will not push you too detailed data and cool patterns, but will only show the weather, the most basic information, and what most people want to find out.
Of course, if you want to get information about pollen, air quality, wind speed, map layers, etc., you need to upgrade to the pro version. The Pro version also includes a variety of customizable widgets, themes, and other notification options.
Hello Weather's privacy policy and terms of service are also very concise. The team behind it has clearly stated on the official website: "They don't want to know anything about you unless you contact 'them' yourself". It can be seen that the application is not interested in collecting user data.
2. Yr
Yr, provided by the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, is another "serious" weather app. It uses a variety of open data from EUMETSAT, GeoNames and the Norwegian Polar Institute. It's completely free, but it only does what compliant apps are supposed to do.
Since the app itself provides only the necessary basic information, it is functional without overwhelming the user. And for those users who want to know more details, it will display more weather forecast information in the form of charts.
What's more, Yr doesn't come with any ads and only collects the data it needs to work properly. According to the privacy policy it provides, the app only uses location data to show users the weather conditions in their area.
3. Ventusky
If you don't like minimalist weather apps, then Ventusky may be a better choice. It is an impressive piece of software developed by the Czech company InMeteo.
Ventusky's default interface is a map of your area. It shows temperature colors and wind lines, sort of like the weather maps you see on TV. Obviously, you can zoom in and out to see the weather in other parts of the world, and you can find out more about air quality and more. Of course, this is only the free version. Its paid version has more advanced features.
According to its privacy policy, Ventusky only collects data and location information that is used in an anonymous state. Accordingly, the user can use the application only by the location parameter without revealing his identity.
4. Do not be tracked by various applications
As mentioned earlier, it may be because it is difficult to think that checking the weather forecast will also leak personal privacy. Few people realize that most weather apps have a certain degree of privacy sniffing. As the saying goes: "We should be tracking the weather, not us being tracked."
In addition to the three privacy-respecting weather apps, Hello Weather, Yr, and Ventusky introduced above, you should also check other apps on your smartphone, including browsers, instant messengers, email clients, etc. , whether it is safe and compliant enough, and whether it is time to find a better alternative.