Meta's Apps Hoover Up Three Times More User Data Than Apple's, Study Claims
A new study puts some hard numbers on something most people already suspected: Meta is ravenous for your data, and Google isn't far behind.
The research, published by VPN provider Surfshark, analysed 171 iOS apps across five major publishers — Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon — cross-referencing the privacy disclosures each developer submitted to Apple's App Store. Meta's apps came out worst, declaring an average of 25 data types out of a possible 35. Apple and Microsoft apps averaged around seven or eight.
Before anyone gets too alarmed or too comfortable, some caveats are worth stating upfront. This study counts declared data categories, not actual transmission volumes or collection frequency. It's based on what developers self-report to Apple, not independent traffic analysis. And not every data type listed applies to every user. In other words, it's a useful signal, not a smoking gun.
Still, the numbers are striking. Nine of Meta's 12 apps studied landed in the top 40 most data-hungry apps overall. All of them declared collection of device IDs, product interaction data, performance metrics, and crash data. Nine listed precise location data — which Surfshark's researchers flagged as hard to justify for several of those apps — and seven listed browsing history.
Google accounted for 29 of the top 40 data-collecting apps, though it's worth noting Google also had the largest sample size, with 44 apps included versus Meta's 12. Its apps declared between 18 and 26 data types each, and topped the charts in six App Store categories including Music, Health & Fitness, and Developer Tools. Commonly declared types included search histories, purchase histories, photos, email addresses, and usernames.
Amazon's Alexa was the single most data-hungry non-Meta app, declaring 28 data types. Eleven Amazon apps listed precise location data. Amazon Shopper was the only Amazon app to declare browsing history collection, which feels almost restrained by comparison.
Microsoft and Apple sat at the cleaner end of the spectrum, though neither was spotless. Microsoft apps commonly declared crash data, device IDs, email addresses, and user IDs, with two listing browsing history. Apple's own apps mostly kept things tighter — Safari was the lone Apple app declaring browsing history, and only six listed precise location.
Surfshark's research lead Dr Luis Costa offered the predictable quote about Big Tech building 'detailed digital maps of users' lives' by stitching together GPS data, search history, and purchase habits across dozens of apps. He's not wrong, but the framing should be kept in perspective: this study covers five companies' own first-party apps, not the broader App Store ecosystem, which is where the real privacy wild west tends to operate.
What it does confirm is that the gap between the most and least data-hungry Big Tech publishers is substantial. Whether Meta's data appetite reflects genuine product necessity or just decades of building a surveillance-funded ad business is, at this point, a question that answers itself.