Privacy of Default Apps in Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem

Amel Bourdoucen; Janne Lindqvist

doi:10.1145/3613904.3642831

Privacy of Default Apps in Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

147 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Users need to configure default apps when they first start using their devices. The privacy configurations of these apps do not always match what users think they have initially enabled. We first explored the privacy configurations of eight default apps Safari, Siri, Family Sharing, iMessage, FaceTime, Location Services, Find My, and Touch ID. We discovered serious issues with the documentation of these apps. Based on this, we studied users’ experiences with an interview study (N=15). We show that: the instructions for setting privacy configurations of default apps are vague and lack required steps; users were unable to disable default apps from accessing their personal information; users assumed they were being tracked by some default apps; default apps may cause tensions in family relationships because of information sharing. Our results illuminate on the privacy and security implications of configuring the privacy of default apps and how users understand the mobile ecosystem.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Florian Floyd Mueller, Penny Kyburz, Julie R. Williamson, Corina Sas, Max L. Wilson, Phoebe Toups Dugas, Irina Shklovski
Publisher	ACM
Pages	1-32
ISBN (Electronic)	979-8-4007-0330-0
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642831
Publication status	Published - 11 May 2024
MoE publication type	A4 Conference publication
Event	ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Honolulu, USA, Honolulu, United States Duration: 11 May 2024 → 16 May 2024 https://chi2024.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Abbreviated title	ACM CHI
Country/Territory	United States
City	Honolulu
Period	11/05/2024 → 16/05/2024
Internet address	https://chi2024.acm.org/

Keywords

Privacy
Ecosystems
Mobile Devices
Apps

Access to Document

10.1145/3613904.3642831Licence: CC BY

SCI_Bourdoucen_etal_CHI_2024Final published version, 760 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@inproceedings{2a12553ea95b4fc297ef2a1eb7f41c47,

title = "Privacy of Default Apps in Apple{\textquoteright}s Mobile Ecosystem",

abstract = "Users need to configure default apps when they first start using their devices. The privacy configurations of these apps do not always match what users think they have initially enabled. We first explored the privacy configurations of eight default apps Safari, Siri, Family Sharing, iMessage, FaceTime, Location Services, Find My, and Touch ID. We discovered serious issues with the documentation of these apps. Based on this, we studied users{\textquoteright} experiences with an interview study (N=15). We show that: the instructions for setting privacy configurations of default apps are vague and lack required steps; users were unable to disable default apps from accessing their personal information; users assumed they were being tracked by some default apps; default apps may cause tensions in family relationships because of information sharing. Our results illuminate on the privacy and security implications of configuring the privacy of default apps and how users understand the mobile ecosystem.",

keywords = "Privacy, Ecosystems, Mobile Devices, Apps",

author = "Amel Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist",

year = "2024",

month = may,

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doi = "10.1145/3613904.3642831",

language = "English",

pages = "1--32",

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booktitle = "CHI '24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

publisher = "ACM",

address = "United States",

note = "ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM CHI ; Conference date: 11-05-2024 Through 16-05-2024",

url = "https://chi2024.acm.org/",

}

Bourdoucen, A & Lindqvist, J 2024, Privacy of Default Apps in Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem. in FF Mueller, P Kyburz, JR Williamson, C Sas, ML Wilson, P Toups Dugas & I Shklovski (eds), CHI '24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 786, ACM, pp. 1-32, ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, 11/05/2024. https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642831

Privacy of Default Apps in Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem. / Bourdoucen, Amel ; Lindqvist, Janne.
CHI '24: Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Florian Floyd Mueller; Penny Kyburz; Julie R. Williamson; Corina Sas; Max L. Wilson; Phoebe Toups Dugas; Irina Shklovski. ACM, 2024. p. 1-32 786.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

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Privacy of Default Apps in Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

ENJOYSEC /Lindqvist: Enjoyable Security/Lindqvist

ENJOYSEC: Enjoyable Security /Mekler

Cite this

Privacy of Default Apps in Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

ENJOYSEC /Lindqvist: Enjoyable Security/Lindqvist

ENJOYSEC: Enjoyable Security /Mekler

Cite this