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How to see which apps are tracking you

Most apps include code from advertising and analytics companies. Here's how to find out which of your apps share data, who receives it, and what you can do about it, in plain English.

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What "tracking" means

Many free apps make money by sharing information with other companies: advertising networks, analytics firms and data brokers. Often this happens through small pieces of code ("trackers") built into the app. They can report things like your rough location, your phone's advertising ID, which screens you open and how long you use the app.

1. Read what each app says it collects

On Android, open the app's page in Google Play and scroll to Data safety. On iPhone, open the app's page in the App Store and look for App Privacy. These are a good starting point, but they're written by the app makers themselves.

2. Check which permissions apps use

  • Android: open Settings and search for Privacy dashboard to see which apps recently used your location, camera or microphone. Under Permission manager you can switch off anything an app doesn't need.
  • iPhone: go to Settings → Privacy & Security and check Location Services, Camera, Microphone and the others.

3. Watch what apps actually send

Permissions only tell you what an app could do. To see who your apps really talk to:

  • iPhone: turn on Settings → Privacy & Security → App Privacy Report. After a few days it lists the websites each app contacted.
  • Android, Windows and Linux: use WhoSees. It shows, live on a map, which app sends data, which company receives it (trackers and advertisers are labelled) and where in the world it goes. It's free and open source, and nothing leaves your device.
WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN'T SEE

Almost all app traffic is encrypted, so no tool can honestly show you every detail inside it. What you can see is who receives it. WhoSees marks data it actually saw (sent without encryption) as "seen", and otherwise tells you what that kind of company usually collects, marked "likely".

4. What you can do about it

  • Reset or delete your advertising ID. Android: open Settings and search for Ads, then choose Delete advertising ID. iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking, and turn off "Allow Apps to Request to Track".
  • Remove permissions an app doesn't need, especially location.
  • Uninstall apps you don't use. Many keep sending data in the background.
  • Use a privacy-friendly DNS that blocks known trackers for the whole phone. See Private DNS on Android.