Apples App Store, Google PlayStore delisted over 8 lakh apps due to lack of privacy policy

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. 

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