6 out of 7 Covid-19 apps are privacy unfriendly
Only 47 of 359 apps use Google and Apple’s more privacy-friendly exposure-notification system, which restricts apps to only Bluetooth data collection. More than six out of seven COVID-19-focused iOS apps worldwide are free to request whatever privacy permissions they want, with 59 percent asking for a user’s location when in use and 43 percent tracking location at all times.
Albright found that:
44 percent of COVID-19 apps on iOS asked for access to the phone’s camera
22 percent of apps asked for access to the user’s microphone
32 percent asked for access to their photos, and lastly
11 percent asked for access to their contacts.
Read more on this:
The iOS COVID-19 app ecosystem has become a privacy minefield | Ars Technica