smart launcher 6 looks really cool but im not sure if it collects and sells my data or not

  • hneerqe@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    The company collects and processes fingerprintable information, including IP address, for “legitimate interests”, whatever those are at any point in time.

    This Application may track Users by storing a unique identifier of their device, for analytics purposes or for storing Users’ preferences.

    ‘Privacy’ is not even mentioned anywhere in the website, not as a feature, not as a consideration or demonstrating awareness.

    Except for GDPR this or that. Who cares, just don’t collect data…

    No github page, can’t even take a peek at the development.

    I’d say not privacy friendly. Would not install. Because while they don’t seem like a data mining operation, they’re still collecting something and there’s risk of database leaks, and privacy is clearly not a focus.

    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
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      14 hours ago

      “Legitimate interests” is the legal term used in GDPR to refer to things you can’t avoid collecting. Like someone’s email address when they create an account on your platform.

      You will find a mention in literally every single legally compliant privacy policy.

      This privacy policy is pretty much the bare minimum you have to have to be legally compliant in the EU, even if you literally never save anything or do anything with the data. Because just by having people visiting your website you technically “know” their IPs even if you don’t save them.

      If someone sends you an email, then you technically “collect” their name and address. If you sell something, then you technically “collect” customer transaction data.

      Literally every privacy policy that wants to be GDPR compliant has to mention “legitimate interest” and it literally just means “when you tell us stuff, that means we then know that stuff about you”.

      This privacy policy is pretty explicit about NOT doing anything beyond the bare minimum.

      It does allow them to collect their own statistics, but there is no clause allowing stats or other data to be personally identifiable (except for authentication), and more notably, that would allow data to be re-sold or shared.

      We do not collect usage data about other apps on your device or websites that are not our own.

      Smart Launcher’s app sorting feature is entirely optional. If you choose to enable it, we may collect information about the apps installed on your device, but only after obtaining your explicit consent. If you do not grant permission, no data will be collected. When collected, this data remains anonymous, as it is transmitted separately from any personally identifiable information. We use it solely to enhance your experience, and it is never shared with third parties.

      We only use technical cookies to ensure the proper functioning of our website and apps. These cookies do not track your activity for advertising purposes.

      If you log in to our services using third-party authentication providers (e.g., Google Login), we may collect personal information such as your email address and other information shared by the third-party provider based on your consent. This information is used solely for authentication purposes.

      Some features, like searching contacts, require access to your Address Book. We do not collect or share this data. This permission is optional and can be enabled or disabled at any time.

      The app may require access to your location, for example, to display the weather forecast. In such cases, we share your approximate location (city level) with the weather forecast provider to enable the service. This permission is optional and can be granted or revoked at any time.

      Access to Storage: The app may need access to your storage, for instance, to allow you to search for a specific picture or file, or to access the wallpaper in use. We do not collect or share this data. This permission is optional and can be granted or revoked at any time.

      Additionally, a GDPR compliant privacy policy must be exhaustive. Even with the device identifier, if the data-point isn’t in the list, they can’t legally collect it.

      That means the optional list of the apps you have installed that they use to develop their auto-categorization of apps, is about as bad as it gets. This isn’t covered by GDPRs definition of legitimate interest, which is why it requires explicit consent.

      (Smart launchers titular feature is that it will automatically let you navigate your apps by categories like games, financial, social, tools, etc.)

        • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz
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          9 hours ago

          Which this looks like it can be.

          If you don’t provide consent for the app stats, and don’t create an account (which you don’t actually have to) they don’t have a basis to track anything.

          Basically, what you want to look for in GDPR compliant privacy policies, is “we don’t keep/use the data”.

          That’s because of how GDPR defines “legitimate interest”.

          If you have a website, or handle ANY traffic, at all, under GDPR you actually cannot legally claim something like “we don’t collect your IP address”. Unless the user is behind a VPN, your server does at least for the duration of a users interaction, technically, know their IP. Which means you have to state you collect IPs as defined by “legitimate interest”.

          You can only then add that you don’t do anything with that data. Which this privacy policy does do.

          Basically, everything under “legitmate interest” is just “this is how the internet works” or otherwise self evident stuff, like if you write your email in a contact form, you’re providing your email for the purpose of being contacted.

          Everything that does not fall under “legitimate interest” under GDPR requires “explicit consent” meaning no such piece of data can be gathered without giving the user an explicit readable prompt, that either explains what is happening or links to the privacy policy.

    • goofsqueak@lemdro.idOP
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      16 hours ago

      alright thanks, installed it (before seeing this) to try it and the feature i wanted was locked behind a paywall anyway