Security· August 18, 2026 at 04:01 p.m.
Meta and Google Mobile Apps Collect Significant User Data: Study
Key takeaways
- Meta collects three times as much user data compared to Apple or Microsoft
- Google accounts for 29 of the 40 apps declaring the broadest data collection
- All Meta apps studied declared the collection of device IDs, product interactions, performance information, and crash data
A study by Surfshark, a VPN and security tools provider, has found that Meta's mobile apps collect an average of three times as much user data compared to those published by Apple or Microsoft. Google also emerged as one of the worst data-scavenging offenders among the five tech giants examined in the study.
The research analyzed 171 iOS apps from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta. The findings are based on privacy information submitted by developers to Apple's App Store, which counts the number of data types an app may collect, not the amount or frequency of collection.
Google accounted for 29 of the 40 apps declaring the broadest data collection, although it was overrepresented in the sample. Nine of Meta's 12 apps made the top 40. All the Meta apps studied declared the collection of device IDs, product interactions, performance information, and crash data.
Dr Luis Costa, Surfshark research lead, stated, 'Our research shows that the Big Tech business model is often built on an insatiable appetite for user information.'
