The Hidden Life of Your Data: What Apps Really do Behind the Scenes

Article Written By: Chintana Bhaskara

Article Designed By: Chintana Bhaskara and Natasha Gumpula

Hidden Data Flow

A study shows that of the 297 popular health and fitness apps, found that there are about 8 different permissions asked, including sensitive

information like your location or device information. Even though most apps state that they don’t share your data with outside sources, it has shown to be untrue.

Grund, Held & Bero states that researchers have discovered that there is a network that connects over half of the app companies, at around 58.5%. Though 64.4% of app companies state that

they do not share data, this shows that data can still move across different companies without your knowledge through a simple and easy linking of the apps through shared tools and partners.

Tracking Without Consent

A few researchers were studying apps on Android phones, and concluded that most of the apps on it have third-party trackers, but only some ask for the users permission before it becomes used. In addition, the study found that these third-party tracking de

vices rely on the app developers to get permission, but it is not really done by them. This causes several apps to not meet the legal consent requirements meaning that though users deny tracking access, they are still often tracked.

Privacy Policies vs Reality

As stated before, many apps claim to not share or collect data, and a study found that 15 app companies play a major “gatekeeper” role, connecting big parts of the app network. These companies are also able to collect or combine data from other apps through this link sharing.

Some large tech or social media platforms which increase concern as they contain large amounts of sensitive and personal information. This shows that what the apps state in their privacy policies may not be the same as what actually happens to your personal data.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Tracking

A recent study observed 52 Android tools known as SDKs, these tools scan bluetooth and wifi signals around you. The researchers found that apps using SDKs, around 86% of it, collected personal data like device IDs, emails, GPS locations, and raw wifi and bluetooth information. In addition, the researchers found that many of the SDKs can

connect different user identities together through a process called “ID bridging.”

This bridging allows for companies to pinpoint the location of someone for a long period of time without the person being aware this is being collected from them.

 

Citations

Dreamstime. data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBwgHBgkIBwgKCgkLDRYPDQwMDRsUFRAWIB0iIiAdHx8kKDQsJCYxJx8fLT0tMTU3Ojo6Iys/RD84QzQ5OjcBCgoKDQwNGg8PGjclHyU3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3N//AABEIAJQA0QMBEQACEQEDEQH/x. Accessed 28 11 2025.

Dreamstime. Phone Tracking Stock Illustrations – 14,460 Phone Tracking Stock. data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxMTEhUSExMVFhUXFRcVFRYVFRUYFRcVFRYWFhUWHRgYHSggGRolHRUVITEhJSkrLi4uFx8zODMtNygtLisBCgoKDg0OGxAQGy4mICUrNy0rNS8uLTAyNy0tLjctNy04LS0tLS0tMi8tLS0vLS8tLS0tLS4tLi0tLS0tLS0tLf/AABEIAOEA4QMBIgACEQEDEQH/x. Accessed 28 11 2025.

Girish, Aniketh, et al. “Your Signal, Their Data: An Empirical Privacy Analysis of Wireless-Scanning SDKs in Android.” ArXiv.org, 2025, arxiv.org/abs/2503.15238.

Grundy, Quinn, et al. “Tracing the Potential Flow of Consumer Data: A Network Analysis of Prominent Health and Fitness Apps.” Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 19, no. 6, 28 June 2017, p. e233, https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7347. Accessed 28 Feb. 2020.

Kollnig, Konrad, et al. “A Fait Accompli? An Empirical Study into the Absence of Consent to Third-Party Tracking in Android Apps.” ArXiv (Cornell University), 17 June 2021, https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2106.09407.

MyDraw. data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAOAAAACUCAMAAAC9QNUEAAABLFBMVEX////u7u7m4+H8/PzU2Nrw8fL5+fn19veBhpKoqrH//Pv5/P3Y2dvn6Oqa0tv08fAAAACBhJeMkKLZ3eMAJlRwdYPh6O2u09fR6u6q2eDf398AADXIyMjCwsI3RmijqLWgy9K2trZCVnUAIFF+gIgAGk9WndJoseUoPmQ7Tm8AE0vC5Opcnc. Accessed 28 11 2025.

Shutterstock. data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBxANDw8ODg8QDQ8ODw8QDw4PDxAQFQ8QFREXFxURFhYYHCggGBolHRUVITEiJSkrLi4uFx8zODMtNyg5LisBCgoKDg0OGhAQFSslICE3Ny8rLS0tLysrNy0rLS0tMS0tNi0rKzctLS0tKy0tKy0rKy0zLy0rLS0vLS01LS0rK//AABEIAOkA2AMBIgACEQEDEQH/x. Accessed 28 11 2025.

“Tracing the Potential Flow of Consumer Data: A Network Analysis of Prominent Health and Fitness Apps.” Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 19, no. 6, 28 June 2017, p. e233, https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7347.