Jordan Bevan
51% of iOS and 19% of Android apps which are available for kids aged 12 and under do not have a privacy policy, according to the latest report from Pixalate.
As we’re getting ready to enter a brand new year, there are approximately 5.1 million mobile apps available on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store. While the Android platform hosts 3.4 million apps, the iOS platform is home to 1.7 million apps as of Q3 2020.
An average U.S. smartphone user spends more than 3 hours per day on mobile apps and global mobile advertising spending is expected to hit $120 billion in 2021 and 156.38 billion in 2023, according to eMarketer.
The great upward trend in the availability of smartphones and mobile apps has inevitably brought along some privacy and risk factors. While we can say that adults now have much awareness about their online privacy, kids are usually less careful about it.
According to Pixalate’s Mobile Ad Supply Chain: App Safety & Consumer Data Privacy Report (Q3 2020), while 90%, or 4.6 million, of all the apps available across the App Store and Play Store are for an age category including kids aged 12 or under, 19% of Android and 51% iOS apps don’t have a privacy policy.
In addition, on the Android store, 23% of apps available for kids have private registration, 57% are registered with non-corporate emails and 60% of them have no Terms of Service.
On the iOS store, 26% of apps available for kids have private registration, 20% are registered with non-corporate emails and 54% have no Terms of Service.
According to the report, 90% Android kids apps have no address or offer and unidentifiable address.
Furthermore, there’s been a 5% increase in the number of these apps between Q1 and Q3 2020.
The company also found that more than 80% of Android apps available for kids are from traditional shell company locations.
On the App Store, 90% of iOS kids apps have unidentifiable addresses or provide no address at all.
In contrast to the Play Store, there was a little decrease in the number of these apps between Q1 and Q3 2020, except the United States and China.
The report also shows that 90% of iOS apps are from traditional shell company locations.
Dangerous User Permissions In Android Apps For Kids
According to Google, as highlighted in the report, dangerous permissions cover areas where the app wants data or resources that involve the user’s private information, or could potentially affect the user’s stored data or the operation of other apps.
According to the report, 2.3 million Android apps (2.1 million apps for kids) have at least 1 dangerous permission, 2 million apps (1.7 million for kids) write external storage, 1 million apps (900K for kids) access precise location, 800K apps (725K for kids) access camera and 350K apps(300K for kids) record audio.
In addition, %5 of all Android apps (%6 of apps for kids) require access to the user’s camera, microphone and precise address at the same time.
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