Apps in Need of Rejection: Ones That Steal Your iPhone Number and Call You to Up-sell
So you make an app free, get people to download it, then use it to violate your users’ privacy by pulling their telephone number off their iPhone so you can call them and try to annoy them into coughing up money for your paid app.
Yeah, that should be a rejection, if not a banning.
(No, we’re not mentioning the name of the app, why give them publicity? Picture above is proof of concept code showing how the iPhone user telephone number is retrieved.)
[via Mac4Ever -- thanks everyone who sent this in]
September 29th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Macworld.com also ran an article on this: http://tinyurl.com/y8suuhe
Apparently its easy for app developers to get and log your phone number, which leads one to ask just what other info they can get.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
They can retrieve just about anything….
This is the reason why the app approval process is so important!!!
So developers stop whining about the app approval process!!!
Ever hear of a keylogger…..imagine one on your iPhone!!! Enough said!!
September 29th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
I tried well over 800 apps (currently I have ~30 apps on my iPhone).
I haven’t experienced this a single time, not once.
How common is this?
September 29th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
@melwan:
How would you know if your number was being logged? The image above is from a proof of concept application, not a real one, so you would never see that display. But that does not mean that it isn’t being logged.
I’m always a little suspicious when an app crashes the first time you run it and never crashes again. Did the developer put the phone number in memory and cause a crash so that it shows up in their crash logs?
The other thing I’m suspicious of is apps that constantly nag me to use GPS when the App has no reason to do so. Why does Shazam need to know where I am?
September 29th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
@icebike: we’ve asked about that and the standard reply is either: 1) for location tagging, so they can show where what kind of music is listened to (and likely aggregate it and maybe sell it), and 2) for assigning which server gets hit based on proximity, which aside from some underwater continental lines, really shouldn’t be much of a bottleneck these days..
September 29th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
And legislation to protect consumers from this is…???
September 29th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
@Randy
So wait, people should stop complaining about a process because it failed completely at its stated goal of keeping ‘bad things’ off the platform? I might almost give Apple the benefit of the doubt for each app rejected when an icon looks off if it actually protected the underlying platform. But now to the litany of foolish and petty rejections we can add concrete proof that the process fails to catch legitimate issues — and that is supposed to make us like this process more? Umm, no.
September 29th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Another reason to get an iPod Touch, and ditch the phone! Kidding on the second part. The first is serious.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
for some more info on how Apps are and can spy on you check out http://i-phone-home.blogspot.com/ i’ve been recently thinking about this very issue.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
@JesusBonJovi
As an additional note to your link, I would suggest downloading PrivaCy from Saurik’s repository in Cydia. One can use it to disable the usage tracking prevalent in iPhone apps.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:59 am
@icebike:
I understand the logging of the phone number part, and yes, u r correct. I have no way of knowing if the number had been logged or not.
My question though was about how common is it that people receive phone calls about advertising for paid apps? I haven’t received a single phone call personally, but do people experience this a lot? that was my intended question.
September 30th, 2009 at 2:51 am
I haven’t received phone calla but I have been getting annoying *** text messages. I was so confused at first because I don’t put my telephone number anywhere but now it all makes sense.
September 30th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Come on! And the next headline will be: “WARNING: Installing an application on your PC gives it access to your hard drive !!! ZOMG, we should call the police.”
How is this even a headline? Installing an app has always meant that the app has access to your device, that is your contacts, SMS, mails, all the f***ing stuff that is on your phone!
Oh well….
September 30th, 2009 at 3:15 am
No phone calls or text messages here but I imagine it’s only a matter of time.
September 30th, 2009 at 6:05 am
What about the apps on Cydia?
September 30th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I don’t understand why you won’t name names. I’d like to know which apps exhibit this behavior and depend on this site for info like that. You’re only protecting them but not saying who it is.
September 30th, 2009 at 7:05 am
@Joseph The apps on Cydia are even more dangerous. They are not policed by anyone. Jail breaking is a HUGE risk for your most personal data. all it takes is 1 wrong download and all of your data belongs to someone else.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:06 am
@Aaron: exactly what I was thinking. I’ll have to becareful. Thnx.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:26 am
@pieroxy
I’m totally with you. If you didn’t know computers could do this, well…..you probably should go back to pen and paper. Face it, that’s the nature of computers. You install somethings, you’re giving it access. It’s a risk, but it’s one that all of us take evertime we boot up a PC that came preloaded with ton of ****-ware.
It’s just another research tool for development and advertising. Welcome to the 21st century.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:27 am
also, i find it funny that we cant say c-r-a-p without it being censored.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:36 am
just file fcc violations since you have by fcc rules regulation give out your number no company can phisher it.
its against the law to solicit a cell phone in the united states also you never have to register a cell number on the do not call list. its automatic.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
I am an iphone developer. To avoid the app stealing your phone number. You can change your phone number in the “phone setting, below the “mail, Contacts, calender” “.
In the “core telephony framework”, apple does not provide any method to let the developers to access to the phone’s number.
Hope this will help