Cash Back apps – 5 Things to Know

Posted on by Gail Eddy in Privacy, Tips

I was at a big family event recently, and at breakfast one morning all the cousins gathered. We talked about the usual stuff: our adult kids, work, pets, aging parents, hobbies, etc. When we started to talk about how much everything is costing, one cousin told us they use Cash Back apps. Every time they fill up the gas tank, they get either a discount or cash back. I opened the App Store on my iPhone to check it out and had a bit of a shock.

It turns out that when you install some of these apps, it collects a LOT of data about you, including all of your Contacts. My cousin seemed unconcerned that their phone shared MY name, address, email, etc., with the app. Hey! They got 25+ cents back per gallon every time they filled up In effect, MY compromised privacy is paying for their gas!

Quote: 

Which reminds me of one of my favorite sayings when it comes to Privacy:

Photo of a mountain highway overlaid with a quote from Andrew Lewis. "If you're not paying for something, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold." The image and quote were originally published by Quotefancy. I think Cash Back apps fully take advantage of collecting data about their users.

(Etymology of the quote: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/07/16/product/)

5 Things to Know About Cash Back Apps:

  1. Most apps collect your Search History and your Browsing History. Think it’s private? It’s probably not.
  2. Many apps collect and track your precise location.  Here’s a blog I wrote a few years ago about Location Privacy.
  3. Some apps collect data from your Health & Fitness app. They’ll know if you just got done with a workout, or if you didn’t get a good nights sleep, or if you’re menstruating.
  4. Many apps collect data about your purchases and thus will have a better idea of which brands or products to push towards you.
  5. Some apps collect “Sensitive Info” which is never defined. This data is linked to your identity.

Recommendation:   

Now is a good time to see what the Privacy Policies are for each of the apps you’ve already downloaded to your phone. To repeat: Be aware of the data are they collecting! Are you comfortable with an app knowing that you are menstruating, or that you had a sleepless night, or that you just purchased a large bottle of whiskey?

Think about whether you really need that app on your phone, or if you can just as easily get the info from their website on your computer. (My nephew just switched to a flip phone and is finding the transition to be much less onerous than he thought it would be.) For privacy purposes, it’s best not to share personal data with a multitude of different companies.

Good Practice:

Before downloading any new app, get in the habit of glancing at their privacy practices. Are you okay with the app collecting and tracking you with your info?

How to Check an App’s Privacy Practices:

  1. Go to the app you are interested in.
  2. Don’t automatically click on the “Get” button.
  3. First, look at the rating. Is it above 4.5? Are there more than 1000 reviewers?
  4. Scroll down to the App Privacy section. Look carefully at “Data Used to Track You” and “Data Linked to You”.
  5. Also look at “Data Not Linked to You.” This is data that the app is collecting from your device. Even if it’s not linked directly to you, they are still harvesting that information.

Matrix of Cash Back Apps:

Here’s a matrix I put together to show what kinds of data some of the Cash Back apps are collecting about you. They are using this information to track you across the internet. The Apps are listed in alphabetical order with the App Store rating for each. I included only the highest rated apps with the exception of PayPal Honey. Chris mentioned that several of our customers use this app and it would be helpful to include.

CoinOut Fetch Gas Buddy ibotta PayPal Honey Pogo Rakuten ShopBack TopCashBack Upside
Apple AppStore Rating 4.7 4.9 4.7 4.8 3.6 4.9 4.8 4.5 4.7 4.8
Contact Info Linked Linked Tracking Tracking Linked Tracking Linked Tracking Linked Linked
Contacts Linked Collected
Diagnostics Collected Linked Collected Linked Linked Collected Linked Tracking Linked Linked
Financial Info Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked
Identifiers Linked Tracking Tracking Tracking Linked Tracking Linked Tracking Tracking Linked
Location Linked Tracking Tracking Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked
Purchases Linked Linked Tracking Linked Linked Linked Linked
Search/Browsing History Collected Linked Linked Linked Tracking Linked Linked
Sensative Info Linked Linked Linked Linked
Usage Data Tracking Linked Tracking Tracking Linked Linked Linked Tracking Linked Tracking
User Content Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked Linked
Health & Fitness Tracking
Other Data Tracking
TERMS:
Tracking Data Used to Track You: data may be used to track you across apps & websites owned by other companies
Linked Data Linked to You: The following data may be collected and linked to your identity
Collected Data Not Linked to You: The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity

Bottom Line:

There really is no way to be 100% private today, especially not with Cash Back apps. But it’s smart to be aware of what information about yourself that you are willingly sharing with app developers and their backers.

 

INFORMATION ABOUT GEEK FOR HIRE, INC.

Chris Eddy of Geek For Hire, Inc. has provided computer service to families and small businesses with Macs and PCs for the past twenty-plus years. You can find more on our website or give us a call. Geek For Hire, Inc. provides on-site computer repair service (Tier 3 support) to the Denver / Boulder / Front Range area and remote PC and Mac service throughout North America.

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Published by Gail Eddy