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Cybersecurity

Meta apps collect three times the data of Apple and Microsoft, study finds

Surfshark study: Meta apps collect 25 data types on average, triple that of Apple and Microsoft.

AI News Feed · 2026-08-26 03:55

Surfshark's researchers examined 171 apps in the Apple App Store, split across Google (44), Apple (41), Microsoft (40), Amazon (34), and Meta (12), and counted how many of the 35 data categories each developer self-reports collecting. The figures come from the developers' own App Store privacy labels. Meta led with 25 data types on average, followed by Google (17), Amazon (12), Microsoft (8), and Apple (7).

All seven of the most data-hungry apps in the study were Meta-owned: Meta AI collected 33 data types, while Meta Horizon, Meta Business Suite, Meta Ads Manager, Messenger, Forum, and Facebook each collected 32. The finding echoes an earlier study that Messenger collects 32 of 35 data types, nearly double the messaging-app average.

Google's data collection is notable for scale rather than intensity: it accounted for 29 of the 40 apps declaring the broadest data collection, though it also had the largest representation in the sample with 44 apps. Microsoft and Apple were consistently the tamest, with Safari the only Apple app in the study to log browsing history.

Surfshark research lead Dr Luis Costa said the Big Tech business model often relies on an "insatiable appetite" for user information, weaving search history, purchases, and location into a detailed map of a person's life. He argued that collecting triple the data for the same tasks shows the tracking is deliberate, not technically required. Meta, he noted, ties the data directly to identity, enabling hyper-targeted advertising.

Costa said the concern is not any single app but how data is combined across services. Meta's tracking has previously drawn scrutiny over WhatsApp's metadata collection and Facebook's Link History feature. For users who want to limit data sharing, he suggested disabling precise location and the device advertising ID.

Surfshark said that no privacy tool, including VPNs, can retrieve data users consent to provide at sign-in, making knowledge of which apps collect the most a first step in guarding privacy.