Apple is facing a class action lawsuit for harvesting user data even when it says it won't. The suit, filed Thursday in California federal court, comes days after Gizmodo exclusively reported on research into how multiple iPhone apps send Apple analytics data even if the privacy setting is turned on or off.
The problem was spotted by two independent researchers at the software company Mysk, who found that the Apple App Store gives the company extensive information about nearly everything a user does in the app. Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, and Stocks were all asked to be tested. The problem is still present in most of the built in iPhone apps.
The lawsuit accuses Apple of invasion of privacy. One of the main issues that Apple uses to set its products apart from competitors is privacy, according to the lawsuit. Apple's privacy guarantees are meaningless. There are billboards with the slogan "Privacy". That's an Apple device.
Apple did not reply immediately.
The App Store appears to harvest information about your activity in real time, including what you tap on, which apps you search for, what ads you see, how you found an app and how long you looked at the app.
Apple makes explicit promises about shutting off that type of tracking. None of the built-in settings meant to protect your privacy from Apple's data collection were tested in the tests.
Mysk found that Apple gets that data along with details that can identify you and your device, including ID numbers, what kind of phone you're using, your screen resolution, and how you're connected to the internet.
Many of the other iPhone apps behaved the same. Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, the iTunes Store, and Stocks all collected data even though the Health and Wallet apps didn't. The Stocks app gave you a list of watched stocks, the names of stocks you viewed or searched for, and time stamps for when you did it.
Tommy Mysk said the level of detail was shocking for Apple.
This data can be sensitive if you consider that searching for apps related to topics such as religion, LGBTQ issues, health and addiction can reveal information about a person's life.
The lawsuit said that Apple knows the most intimate and potentially embarrassing aspects of the user's app usage regardless of whether the user accepts Apple's offer to keep such activities private.
As the company expands into digital advertising, it is being scrutinized for its privacy practices. Apple recently introduced new ads in the App Store, reportedly plans to ads to Apple TV, and seems focused on wooing small business advertisers from Meta, Facebook's parent company As it develops new data-driven business ventures, it remains to be seen how much Apple will compromise the privacy of its users.
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