While VPN apps are most often the best way to enhance privacy when browsing the web, a series of clients published in the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store actually did exactly the opposite, allowing the parent company to collect the web traffic.
Over 20 apps developed by Sensor Tower and coming in the form of VPN apps and ad blockers monitored the Internet traffic and shared it with its owner.
It was all possible thanks to a root certificate that the apps prompted users to install from a third-party website, which technically allowed the developer to bypass the restriction put in place by the apps stores.
The discovery was made by BuzzFeed, which wrote that these apps had more than 35 million downloads in the stores. Some of the most popular were Free and Unlimited VPN, Luna VPN, AdBlock Focus, and Mobile Data.
A full list revealing the apps caught snooping on users’ web traffic is available in the photo gallery.
Most apps already removed
Both Apple and Google removed most of the apps from their stores, but the two companies continue their investigations. Sensor Tower, on the other hand, says the company did not collect any personally identifiable or sensitive information from users’ devices.
In other words, usernames and passwords are secure, the company suggests.
“When you consider the relationship between these types of apps and an analytics company, it makes a lot of sense—especially considering our history as a startup,” Sensor Tower head of mobile insights Randy Nelson told BuzzFeed.
“We take the app stores’ guidelines very seriously and make a concerted effort to comply with them, along with any changes to these rules that occur from time to time.”
Choosing a VPN isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do, especially as once you install and enable such an app, all web traffic is automatically routed trough it. There are plenty of good choices that guarantee your privacy in the two apps stores, but needless to say, you should always check twice before using such software, especially when accessing sensitive information.