The Problem with Mobile Apps
Enhancing Privacy Through Mobile Browser Usage
Welcome to another issue of Secrets of Privacy where we discuss personal privacy related topics and provide practical tips to immediately boost your personal privacy.
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Happy New Year!
It goes without saying that mobile apps have changed our lives. From productivity to news to social media, they make it easier than ever to stay productive, informed and connected. Some people can even a living from a handful of apps on their phone.
But it’s also true that mobile apps are (generally) a privacy nightmare. Companies prefer you use their app because it makes it easier to track user behavior and harvest your data. Apps offer a home field advantage for companies in this privacy cat and mouse game. Mobile browsers can help level the playing field.
Reevaluating Mobile Apps with a Privacy First Mindset
Mobile apps are a classic privacy-convenience cost benefit analysis. Their benefits are undeniable. But mobile web browsers have also come a long way in recent years, offering a simple, no-cost solution to the privacy problems posed by apps. With a slight change in habit, you can make the transition away from at least some mobile apps relatively painless. Not all sites and services are a good fit for a mobile browser, but many are, including the worst privacy offenders like general content sites.
This post will address the following key issues:
The problem with mobile apps
What is browser centric web surfing?
The pros and cons of browser centric web surfing on your mobile device
Specific privacy benefits of browser centric web surfing on your mobile device
Best practices for using a browser on your mobile device
Top use cases of browser-centric web surfing on your mobile device
Top use cases of apps on your mobile device
Feel free to skip ahead to the Best Practices section if you want to avoid the background information.
The Problem With Apps
Here's a summary of some common personal privacy problems associated with mobile apps:
1. Data Collection and Tracking. Many mobile apps collect and track user data, including location, device information, and browsing habits. This data can be used for targeted advertising, analytics, and other purposes, raising privacy concerns.
2. Invasive Permissions. Some apps request excessive permissions that may not be necessary for their core functionality. Granting these permissions can lead to the unnecessary exposure of personal information, such as contacts, camera, and microphone access.
3. Third-Party Data Sharing. Apps often share user data with third-party services for advertising, analytics, or other purposes. Users may not have direct control over how their information is shared or with whom.
4. Lack of Transparency. Many apps have opaque privacy policies, making it challenging for users to understand how their data is being used. This lack of transparency can erode trust and leave users unaware of potential privacy risks.
5. Security Vulnerabilities. Security flaws in mobile apps can expose user data to unauthorized access. This includes vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malicious actors to gain access to sensitive information stored within the app.
6. Unsecured Data Transmission. Some apps transmit data over unsecured connections, making it susceptible to interception by third parties. This lack of encryption during data transmission can compromise the confidentiality of user information.
7. Location Tracking. Apps that access location data can potentially track users' movements continuously. This information can be misused for various purposes, including stalking or targeted advertising.
8. Device Fingerprinting. Apps may engage in device fingerprinting techniques, which involve collecting unique device characteristics for identification purposes. This can contribute to online tracking and compromise user anonymity.
9. Ad-Driven Monetization. Free apps often rely on advertising for revenue. Advertisers may use sophisticated tracking methods to build detailed user profiles, leading to concerns about the extensive profiling of individuals.
10. Limited User Control. Users often have limited control over the data collected by apps. While some apps offer privacy settings, others may lack choice, leaving users with little ability to customize their privacy preferences.
What is Browser Centric Web Surfing?
Browser-centric mobile web surfing is simply accessing content through a browser instead of an app. That’s it. One headwind in the adoption of browser centric mobile browsing is that we’re all programed to prefer accessing information via apps over web browsers. And if we’re being honest, it’s understandable because mobile apps are offer superior convenience and an optimized user experience.
The Pros of Browser-Centric Web Surfing
1. Consolidation and Simplicity. Enjoy the convenience of accessing multiple sites and services within a single browser, streamlining your online experience.
2. Privacy-Focused Browsers. Browsers designed with privacy in mind boast features like built-in ad blockers and tracking protection.
3. Container Tabs for Isolation. If available in your browser, harness the power of container tabs to isolate cookies and site data, mitigating the risk of cross-site tracking. “Private” or “Incognito” modes offer similar privacy benefits.
4. Extensions and Add-ons. Leverage browser extensions to enhance privacy by blocking scripts, encrypting connections, and providing additional security layers.
The Cons and Considerations
1. Limited Functionality. Some dedicated apps offer advanced features not available through browsers. Evaluate whether sacrificing certain functionalities aligns with your privacy priorities.
2. App Permissions vs. Browser Permissions. Be mindful of the permissions granted to websites through browsers, as they might request access to certain features, though browser controls are evolving to address this.
3. Browser Security. Regularly update your browser to benefit from the latest security patches. Opt for reputable browsers and exercise caution with lesser-known alternatives.
4. Push Notifications. In general, if push notifications are important to you, mobile apps will work better than a web browser. Mobile browsers are not optimized for push notifications, if offered at all. Push notifications in desktop browsers are more reliable and functional.
5. Lack of Integration with Device Features. Some apps leverage specific device features like cameras, GPS, or sensors for enhanced functionality. Examples include fitness tracking apps that utilize GPS for accurate distance measurement or camera apps with advanced photography features. These are harder, if not impossible to use in browsers.
Best Practices
1. Use a Privacy-Centric Browsers. Explore browsers known for their commitment to privacy, such as Firefox, Brave, DuckDuckGo or Vivaldi. Don’t use Chrome, Edge or Safari.
We recommend Brave, both for desktop and mobile.
2. Customize Privacy Settings. Dive into your browser's settings to tailor privacy preferences, adjusting cookie policies, and managing permissions.
3. Create shortcuts. Identify the sites and services you want to avoid using in a mobile app and create shortcuts. Add those to a folder or home screen for quick access.
3. Leverage Container Tabs. If available in your browser, leverage container tabs to isolate sessions for different purposes, enhancing privacy by compartmentalizing online activities. For example: business, personal and financial.
Top Use Cases for Browsers
By now you may have already determined some use cases for using browsers instead of apps and vice versa. In general, the only drawback for the examples here is you lose push notifications available in an app. Otherwise, we don’t see a material downgrade in the user experience to justify the significant privacy headaches of apps.
1. Online shopping
2. News
3. Social Media
4. Weather
5. Youtube
Productivity bonus – if you’re overwhelmed by non-material push notifications on your mobile device, you can minimize distractions and improve your privacy by uninstalling apps and switching to browser centric web access.
Top Use Cases for Apps
1. GPS/Navigation. Not practical to use a web browser for turn by turn GPS.
2. Email. The user experience is much better in an app than a browser. Push notifications are also more important.
3. Password Managers. Most password managers for mobile are app based. Not viable to use a browser in most cases.
4. Communication and Messaging. These are hard, if not impossible to use in a mobile web browser.
5. Ridesharing. Same as #4.
Mixed Use Cases
1. Financial Services. Financial services apps are some of the more secure apps. But they still run the risk of collecting more data than you would like. Most if not all banks require using an app to do mobile deposits. Our practice (not necessarily a recommendation) is we use both browser and app for banking depending on what we need to do. We do not use mobile apps for Paypal or Venmo because we don’t trust their privacy practices and the browser experience is sufficient.
2. Calendars. If you need push notifications, a browser is not ideal. Otherwise, a browser version should work fine.
3. Office Suite. Mobile versions of document editors usually work well, especially for viewing. But you may lose some functionality, especially more advanced editing.
Wrap Up
Switching to a browser-centric mobile experience isn’t for everyone. Apps are objectively a more convenient way to access most forms of content. To find out if this privacy tactic is for you, you’ll want to experiment with different use cases.
Another alternative we’ll touch on in a future post is to purchase a privacy-friendly mobile phone (reminder we use /e/). Many privacy friendly mobile devices allow you to manage app permissions at a granular level not available in iOS or standard Android.
Even better, you can do both to boost your personal privacy even more!
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Disclaimer: None of this is to be deemed legal advice of any kind.