Market watchdogs take a close look at smartphones and their pre-installed apps
Anyone who uses their new smartphone usually has to deal with a lot of pre-installed apps. An investigation by the market watchdog team at the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center shows that the smartphones tested also had apps that could not be deleted and some of which secured unexpected access permissions.
A market watchdog survey from August 2019 shows that the majority of smartphone owners surveyed want an economically equipped smartphone without third-party apps. The market watchdog team from the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center then checked pre-installed apps on one device each from Apple and Samsung.
Not deleting third-party apps
The market watchdog team found 43 pre-installed apps on the Apple device tested, and 63 on the Samsung smartphone. On the one hand, the two test devices already had apps from the respective smartphone manufacturers on them when they were purchased - in Samsung's case also from the operating system provider Google – for example for telephony, cameras or internet access.
Many of them represent basic functions of the smartphone. On the other hand, the Samsung device tested also comes with seven third-party apps pre-installed. And some of these cannot even be uninstalled - such as the Facebook or LinkedIn app. Such third-party apps remain on the smartphone, even if the user explicitly does not want to use their services.
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Consumers can neither decide which apps that go beyond certain basic functions of the smartphone are specifically pre-installed on their smartphone, nor can they delete some unwanted apps.
“This is unacceptable,”
said Ayten Öksüz, team leader of the market watchdog team at the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center.
“If consumers are already confronted with this number of apps, they should at least have the chance to get rid of unwanted ballast from third-party providers.”
Apps secure permissions in advance
The market watchdog experts put the smartphones into operation as part of a practical test. They followed the manufacturer's recommendations for all settings and kept access permissions unchanged.
The result: After initial commissioning, 14 pre-installed apps on the Samsung smartphone were granted access permissions - sometimes without the user being able to expect this or being asked. In the Bixby Home app, seven access permissions, such as contacts, location or telephone, were preset before the app was activated and used.
“Access permissions for pre-installed apps, especially those from third-party providers, should only be active when the user actually uses the app,”
said Öksüz.
Data transmission in plain text
A technical test showed that data transmission from smartphones is generally protected. In one case, however, the Samsung smartphone sent a date unencrypted: the manufacturer sent the device ID unencrypted to its own servers when a website was accessed via the pre-installed Internet browser.
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The device ID is a so-called “hardware identifier”. This allows the device and thus also indirectly the user to be clearly identified. As part of user tracking, the device ID was also sent to third parties.
Link to the survey
Further links: consumer advice center
You might also be interested in: Malware in supposed banking apps from an unknown source
Source: Federal Association of Consumer Organizations
Article image: ESB Professional / Shutterstock
Notes:
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