Google and Apple have delisted a total of 8,13,000 apps from their respective app stores.
These apps have been delisted as they do not have a privacy policy, and have dangerous features that allow data mining.
A majority of these banned apps were targeted at children aged up to 12 years.
With numerous conversations surrounding privacy features offered by apps buzzing on the internet, Apple and Google have taken a stance on the issue by delisting 8,13,000 apps from the App Store and Play Store respectively. These apps have been removed due to their lack of privacy policy, along with other reasons such as policy breaches, dangerous permissions, and developer withdrawal.
Most of these banned apps were targeted at children
Reports indicate that a majority of these banned apps were targeted at children up to 12 years old (with 89% banned from Google PlayStore and 86% banned from Apple’s App Store). Additionally, 66% of the apps banned from Google PlayStore had dangerous permissions – these permissions allow the apps to access restricted data while also running actions that can impact one’s device. For instance, 19% of these banned apps can access the device’s camera, while 27% can access GPS features.
It’s important to note that even though Google PlayStore and Apple’s App Store have banned these apps, they can still function on the device they were installed on. In other words, if your smartphone already has these apps installed, the ban does not affect their ability to mine your data.
Also Read: Apple iPhone 13 series, iPad 2021, iPad mini 2021 India pricing and availability detailed
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Kajoli Anand Puri
Kajoli is a tech-enthusiast with a soft-spot for smart kitchen and home appliances. She loves exploring gadgets and gizmos that are designed to make life simpler, but also secretly fears a world run by AI. Oh wait, we’re already there. View Full Profile
