Smartphones share our data every four and half minutes

             Smartphones share our data with their respective companies like iPhone shares data with Apple company and android phones shares data with Google every four and half minutes. It shares data even if when we are not using our smartphone, or even if it is in our handbag or pocket. The research was held in Trinity College Dublin, and they raised privacy alarms about smartphones.

             iPhone has always assured us that our information is secure. That is why we all think that iPhone is more secure than the android, but the android is more secure. Professor Doug Leith at Trinity’s Connect Center told that there is a difference between android and iPhone security. iPhone offers no better privacy than android which means the iPhone shares more data than Android. Prof. Doug Leith said that most people think that Google and iPhone need data because they have to provide services like Google Drive or iCloud. It is hard to find the answer that why these companies share our data when we are just using our smartphones to make and receive calls.

             Google gathers 1MB of data from Google Pixel smartphones when not in use every twelve hours, while Apple gathers 52KB. Google gathers 20% more information than Apple. In 2020, Google has 129 million users in the US, while iPhone has 113 million users. If all the iPhone users enable play store services in the US only, then Apple receives 5.8 GB of data in 12 hours while Google receives 1.3 TB of data. Doug Leith said that smartphone users cannot wriggle out of data collection.

             The question that arises in our mind is that what kind of information has been shared with Apple and Google. When we add our email to the google play store or App Store, then phone information gets linked to our email and also the other personal information like credit card number, web browsing history, online shopping history, cookies, and many more. Many pre-installed applications are also observed to create network connections even if we did not open them. In IOS, pre-installed applications include Safari, Siri, and iCloud, and Google includes Google Docs, YouTube, Clock, and many other applications. Smartphones share IMEI numbers, Hardware serial Numbers, and device ids. When we insert or remove a sim, then they also send our phone number and sim serial number to Apple or Google. iPhone also shares device location, local IP address, and nearby Wi-Fi MAC addresses. WI-FI MAC address is the unique address of any router which means the iPhone not only shares the nearby devices but also time with the Apple company.

             Both companies, Apple and Google can easily get our personal information. Now the question is why they need our data and why is it necessary? Google said on this issue that modern cars also share basic data about the vehicle components to the car manufacturers to see their safety status, and the service programs and smartphones operate similarly. That data helps us to ensure that IOS or android software is up to date, the phone is secure, and the phone is working fine or not. Apple company has not said anything about this yet.

Posted: 30 Mar 2021

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