Travelling back from Asia? Surfshark warns against the silent data collection of the most popular local travel apps
- Surfshark has released new research on data collection in Asian travel apps
- It found that 97% of apps may collect and track user data
- It also became clear that tracking continues even after you return home
If you are travelling to Asia, you might already know the trip requires digital preparation, downloading local apps for taxis, food delivery, and maps, as the ones available in the UK may not work there.
However, these essential travel apps are just as data-hungry as your local options, if not worse.
Silent data collection and tracking often continue well after passport control, potentially exposing you to constant monitoring, third-party data harvesting, and data breaches.
This is the warning coming from Surfshark, one of the best VPNs, which recently carried out an in-depth analysis of 65 super-popular ‘essential travel apps’ in Asia and found that a shocking 97% of them (63) may collect user data and 72% (47) could use it for tracking purposes – even after you are back home.
Travellers beware!
Amongst the most popular apps reviewed were Kakao Talk, Revolut, and Baidu Translate.
Surfshark focused on the general types of data collected, the reasons given for processing the data, and data tracking practices by reviewing publicly available information on the Apple App Store.
Unsurprisingly, more than half of essential travel apps collect more data than needed, taking 2 data types on average in addition to those required for their functionality.
Self-promotion and third-party advertising were some of the reasons for data collection.
The latter is particularly disturbing: over half of these apps linked data, including device IDs and user profiles, to third-party data, usually used for targeted advertising or sharing your data with data brokers.
Although they offer the same services, some apps are significantly more intrusive than others. Surfshark compared Grab and Rapido – two apps in the same “Ride” category – showing that the former collects 27 out of 35 types of data, whilst the latter collects only 4.
Finally, apps collect more types of data in some countries than others. Thailand and the Philippines are at the top of the list, while South Korea is below average, featuring apps – Metro Istanbul and TCDD – that do not collect any user data.
A privacy gamble
The situation becomes worrying when you consider how many apps the average tourist might download before setting off.
Based on the TravelReddi travel platform, anyone travelling to Japan or China should download between 26 and 22 apps: a figure that exponentially increases the risk of vast amounts of data being harvested and exposed, given that these countries welcomed around 69 million tourists last year alone.
Surfshark warns that the main issue, however, is what happens after the holidays, as people usually forget to delete these apps, which continue to track your location via GPS or might be involved in data breaches, sometimes without you even realising it.
The VPN provider highlighted how a widely used Canadian coffee app continued to track users’ locations even after it had closed, or how inactive accounts on a well-known US parking app contributed to a data breach in 2021 that affected 21 million users.
How to stay safe
While travelling across countries is certainly an amazing experience, your trip to Asia might not be worth these hidden costs.
Surfshark reminds users of the importance of downloading only trustworthy apps, using them only when necessary, checking app permissions in your phone settings, and deleting these apps immediately after your trip to avoid inadvertently sharing sensitive data.
And, of course, the best travel VPNs will always be a valuable ally, alerting you to any data breaches wherever you are, ensuring you have an unforgettable trip – but only in a good way.