Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR A new report has found that out of the top 16 fitness apps, Fitbit collects the most user data.
However, Strava leads the pack in potentially exploiting the most data beyond app functionality.
PUSH stood out as the least invasive app of the bunch.
It’s the beginning of the new year, which means you and many others may be on a fitness kick right now. Mobile apps, like Fitbit and Nike Training Club, can help you achieve your fitness goals, and there are plenty to choose from. These apps usually require a variety of information to function — like user ID, location, device ID, and crash data — but some of that data tends to be shared with third parties for ad targeting and other purposes. A new report has now laid out which fitness apps are the least privacy-friendly.
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The VPN and data security company Surfshark has released a new report comparing the top 16 fitness apps in terms of data collection. According to the firm, the information it gathered is sourced from Apple’s App Store page, which lists “35 unique data types categorized into 16 unique data point categories.” This information was then analyzed by number, type, and the handling of collected data by each app.
With the methodology out of the way, here are the key insights the company learned about the data collection practices of the top 16 fitness apps:
Among the group, it appears that Fitbit is the most data-hungry, collecting 24 of the 35 unique data types defined by Apple. That’s nearly double the average amount of data collected by these types of apps. However, it’s worth pointing out that some of this data is used for app functionality.
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