Top iOS Dating Apps Are Exposing Users Personal Life To Hackers

WIRED.CO.UK – Feb 3 – The more personal data a company has on its customers, the bigger the risk if it is hacked. A Wired investigation has found some of the dating apps are leaking Facebook details, sharing birthdates and taking precise location details. These were Happn, Hookup Now, AnastasiaDate, and AffairD. The analysis also highlighted the amount of personal data being collected by MeetMe and specific location data being gathered by Once. Happn is supposed to only reveal a person's first name, but it also leaks a person's Facebook ID. Happn acknowledged there was a flaw and said: "We are working on a solution where Happn would act as a proxy, preventing users from being able to identify other users' Facebook IDs in the future." Once was shown to be gathering highly specific location data. The company said it would evaluate whether it needed to collect close location data and remove this feature if it wasn't required. AnastasiaDate allows for a person's date of birth to be visible, despite not being displayed on their profile. During analysis, MeetMe sent data to one advertiser "110 times during a five-minute period while clicking different buttons in the app". Much of this data was sent when an in-app button was pressed. MeetMe said it provides anonymous advertising IDs to firms, which are widely used across the industry, and that it doesn't share personally identifiable info with advertisers.