Make sure your smartphone apps aren't spying on you


There have been some rumblings recently about smartphone apps using your phone's microphone to collect data on your TV- and movie-watching choices.The New York Times wrote about software from a company called Alphonso that collects data to sell to advertisers.

The apps in question are mostly games. They seem harmless, but if you grant permission for those apps to use your phone's microphone, they can listen to your life through the phone—even when the app isn't being used.

The Alphonso software can hear audio tones embedded in our video content to identify what we are watching.According to the article, Alphonso's spokesman says they don't record speech, but I'm guessing most of us do not want our privacy invaded by games like Real Bowling Strike 10 Pin.

So what can you do to protect yourself?Pay attention to what happens when you install a new app.

When you install apps from the Google Play store and iTunes App store, they will ask you if you'd like to grant permission for the app to use your phone's microphone.

iOS apps will ask you during installation, while Android apps should ask the first time they launch.https://www.ttspy.com/the-ultimate-couples-location-tracker-for-android-and-iphone-with-ttspy.html