How popular iOS apps silently record screens to analyse the user data?

With iPhone app development being in demand, the giant companies are also stepping ahead on the route of creating apps to reach more clients and users across the world, as well as to retain the users that are already the loyal customers of the brands. But, this should definitely mean that the developers of the iOS app development company should not pay heed to the privacy policies of creating the apps for the users. For letting the app to accept in the App Store of Apple Inc., it is important that the app is designed and developed in such a way that the app is created within the official terms and guidelines of the iOS App Store. 

If you are an entrepreneur and looking for getting an app built for your business, you should hire iOS app developer who knows it well how to develop an app in accordance with the terms and guidelines of the App Store for creating the app. So, keep vigil over how to hire an iPhone app developer for your app. It is an investment worth bucks, so consider some factors before you hire an app development company.    

You will be surprised to know that the most famous apps around the world has been illegally using this feature to record the screens of the app which not only includes the activities of the users and navigation on the app, but also any errors or issues that the users may face but they abandon the session due to one or other reason. 

Are these reasons valid enough to record the screens of the users of the app without their permission?

You will be curious now to know the names of the companies that are stealing the data and getting it through data analysis software such as Glassbox.

But, the talk of the town is that the companies that have been proved by the specialists to be using the screen recorder software, have completely denied about the breach of privacy policies. There is another thing of surprise that is most of the companies either took shrine of false statements or justified the use of these tricks to help the users for better and smooth app user-experience in the future. 

We have a question to ask the makers of these apps or the iOS app development company which integrates Glassbox with the apps in order to capture the replays of the sessions and sends them directly to the server of the domains or the developers just as a feedback.

What will happen with the sensitive data and the information of the users that is sent to the developers?  

The data and the information that is shared by the users on the app, for instance: Their credit card information is stored in the app but the users never ever think that the data that they are typing into the form fields is actually being eyed over by the developers so that they can see what all is creating hurdles in completing the payment in case it is a product that is being sold to the people through the app. 

The names are not easy to digest. As no one would ever expect that the companies like Hollister, Expedia and Air Canada would ever use this tactic to create a user base as well as retain the users so that they don’t lose their customer base. Every single tap and swipe that the iPhone users make on the app is being recorded by the company app. Isn’t that surprising? 

But, it’s completely true, unfortunately!        

                   

What is more unfortunate is that the iPhone app development company that creates these apps mask certain fields so that the data of certain fields can be recorded easily. Some apps like Abercrombie & Fitch, Singapore Airlines are using Glassbox- a customer experience analytics firm. 

What is the technology behind Glassbox?

How will you feel as you do your tasks in your home and someone is recording your actions without your permission and misusing the video or the pictures in future without even you, knowing about it! 

It feels as someone is invading into your personal life without your permission and it certainly feels awful, Isn’t it? 

Similar thing happens with the use of this technology of Glassbox, or “session replay” technology into the apps, any iOS app development company can screenshot the screens to record what the user is clicking and entering into the fields. This is something that will give out all your information to the companies who don’t even ask you to invade into your information!  

“Imagine if your website or mobile app could see exactly what your customers do in real time, and why they did it?”

This is an explicit statement by Glassbox in one of their recent tweets, which very much tell the picture what the mentality behind everything goes behind it! 

When the masking of the fields for sensitive information is not done, the passwords and important credit card information is easily exposed to risk. It creates doors for the hackers to invade easily to steal credit card info from the stored data as well. Isn’t that really a thing of concern? 

Well, it sure is!   

Some app experts or the analysts have come forward to analyse the apps so that their truth can be exposed. Air Canada’s app has similar technology so as to record the screen. The technology doesn’t mask the sensitive data related to passport numbers and this was all seen in the session replays that were sent to the mobile app developers of the iPhone app development company who have created the app on behalf of the Air Canada company. 

How can the hackers be kept away from this exposed data? Is there any special technology that these companies might be using? 

Well, no there are no provisions to help protect the data! The screenshots or the screen replays that are stored in the database are easily accessible by the hackers. All the data is completely unsafe and unencrypted. Sadly, the password information is also exposed. This is verified by the Air Canada employees also that the masking sometimes doesn’t work as expected so the information goes unverified.   

Talking about Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch, they have this technology integrated into the apps which record screens and send the data to the servers on the domain. They checked the data and they found it was somewhat safe but still there were some email addresses and postal codes. The researcher said Singapore Airlines also collected session replay data but sent it back to Glassbox cloud.

Okay, so stepping ahead, we can say it clearly that these things were not even written in the smallest print with the privacy policies of the company apps. 

If you already know, every iOS app development company should create apps in line with the privacy policies that they will be included in the app.