Of course, this is not a new program by T-Mobile, and it has been in the beta phase for almost a year. The program is called App Insights and allows prospective clients to “leverage app insights.” The company says it is the “strongest indicator of consumer intent.” Through the program, third-party advertisers can now buy T-Mobile customers’ app usage data and use it for advertising purposes. While you might think the company should do this privately, it’s officially announcing it on its website, saying, “Apps speak louder than words.” Of course, the business that buys the data can’t ask for a specific user’s app history; all data is pooled together. Moreover, the program is intended for Android users, and iOS owners are currently excluded from the program. Apple has an App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework that makes it harder to track users. Also, T-Mobile doesn’t want to make Apple upset.
T-Mobile is selling app usage data to advertisers
The App Insights program allows advertisers to target T-Mobile customers based on the apps they installed on the phone and the patterns of using those apps. The websites they visit and the WiFi networks they connect to are also important indicators for advertisers. T-Mobile says it doesn’t target customers using location data. However, advertisers can get this data from other vendors. The good news is T-Mobile allows users to opt out of the program. To do so, you can download the “Magenta Marketing Platform Choices” app to see which companies have access to your data. Then, you can opt-out. App Choices is another app that allows you to opt-out of data-sharing programs. Sharing users’ data with advertisers has become normal among carriers and tech companies. They are doing this openly and are not afraid to announce it. Even some browsers who claim to be privacy-driven have started to share some users’ data with third-party businesses.
