All application developers were really take aback when social networking app Path was caught uploading user contact information without asking for permission from the users. Forbes reported on a study based on University of California, Santa Barbara that found Cydia applications uploaded less private information than App Store apps.
The group built a tool called PiOS which looked at 1407 apps : 826 apps from Appstore and 526 apps for BiggBoss repository in Cydia.
The findings indicated 21 percent of the App Store apps tested uploaded a users’ iOS device’s UDID, 4 percent uploaded location information, and .5-percent uploaded users’ address book—like Path did. When it came to the 526 apps tested on the BigBoss repo, only 4 percent leaked users’ UDID, and only one app leaked location and address book data.
Apple’s new guidelines on uploading address book data might prove to be a remedy. And a software update is also expected where Apple would fix the issue regarding the access of Address book without the user permission by these applications. What do you think about the table above? Let’s know your thoughts in the comment section.