The hidden price of free mobile games could be your personal data and privacy, Proton warns

Free mobile games cost nothing to download, but Proton says you may be paying with your data. The company studied the top 100 free-to-play Android games. Proton found most of these games carry trackers tied to ad-tech firms in places like China, Russia and Israel. Together, those games have been downloaded almost 20 billion times worldwide.

What is hiding inside these free mobile games?

Proton used Exodus Privacy, which spots tracker code inside Android apps, to check top games in four countries. In the US, 81% of downloads involved trackers tied to Chinese companies, and 71% involved Russian ones. In May alone, that meant about 15.8 million downloads with Chinese ties and 13.7 million with Russian ones.

The average game carries 29 trackers, and some carry 36. Proton’s list includes popular free games like Block Blast! and Disney Solitaire. Proton says trackers can collect your device details, habits, payment info, age, gender, and location.

Location tracking is the most worrisome of all since it can reveal where you work, sleep, travel, and spend time. Puzzle and coloring games don’t even need this data, yet US downloads of games with location trackers hit 1.7 million in May.

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Here’s what you can do about it

Proton’s blunt take is that if you don’t pay for a product, you are the product. It suggests paying for games upfront could reduce the incentive for this tracking, due to ad-free software. It also recommends using a VPN with tracker blocking to stop apps from reaching known tracker domains. However, if you try a VPN, vet the app first, because Proton also found trackers in 85% of VPN apps downloaded in the US.

Proton argues regulators and app stores have done little, so protecting yourself ultimately falls to you. So, before you install the next free puzzle game, it’s worth knowing what it might collect. Until then, that “free” download may carry a privacy cost you never see at checkout.