Study finds 18 of 21 apps investigated track users’ locations even when inactive.

A new study by online security experts, vpnMentor, has investigated various privacy and data protection policies of some of the most popular sites and applications, to discover how they’re really tracking their users’ every move.

18 of the 21 services in the study track their user’s current location at all times while using the app. Applications like Tinder keep on following the user’s location, even when the app isn’t being used, while Facebook and Instagram track the user’s location as well as details of their residence, and most commonly visited locations.

One of the major discoveries reports that dating apps like Match.com, Tinder, OKCupid, Plentyoffish, etc. pass on data shared with one service with all the others. Beyond this, all these online dating services have access to the user’s private messages to potential suitors.

Internet security expert Gaya Polat, from VPNmentor, said, “The amount of data held online about users should make them wary about how “their” details are used. While the majority of this data usage is benign or necessary for services to function, knowing which companies hold which data about you is the only way to track your privacy, and how secure you really are.

“We recommend always reading the privacy policy to ensure you know what you’re agreeing to by signing up – but we hope this project will give something of an insight into what it all entails.”

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