- Surfshark released a new study on data collection in Asian travel apps
- It found that 97% of apps can collect and track user data.
- It also became clear that monitoring continues even after you return home.
If you’re traveling to Asia, you may already know that travel requires digital preparation, downloading local apps for taxis, food delivery and maps, as those available in the UK may not work there.
However, these essential travel apps are just as data-intensive as your local options, if not worse.
Silent data collection and tracking often continues well after passport control, potentially exposing you to constant surveillance, third-party data collection, and data breaches.
That’s the warning from Surfshark, one of the best VPNs, which recently conducted an in-depth analysis of 65 popular “essential travel apps” in Asia and found that 97% of them (63) may collect user data and 72% (47) could use them for tracking purposes – even once you return home.
Travelers beware!
Among the most popular apps reviewed were Kakao Talk, Revolut and Baidu Translate.
Surfshark focused on the general types of data collected, the reasons given for processing the data, and data tracking practices by examining publicly available information on the Apple App Store.
Unsurprisingly, more than half of essential travel apps collect more data than necessary, taking on average 2 types of data in addition to that necessary for their functionality.
Self-promotion and third-party advertising are among the reasons for data collection.
This last point is particularly worrying: more than half of these apps combined data, including device identifiers and user profiles, with third-party data, typically used for targeted advertising or to share your data with data brokers.
Although they offer the same services, some apps are significantly more intrusive than others. Surfshark compared Grab and Rapido – two apps in the same “Ride” category – showing that the former collects 27 out of 35 types of data, while the latter only collects 4.
Finally, apps collect more types of data in some countries than others. Thailand and the Philippines top the list, while South Korea ranks below average, with apps – Metro Istanbul and TCDD – collecting no user data.
A bet on privacy
The situation becomes worrying when you consider the number of apps the average tourist is likely to download before leaving.
According to travel platform TravelReddi, anyone traveling to Japan or China would have to download between 26 and 22 apps: a figure that exponentially increases the risk of collecting and exposing large amounts of data, given that these countries welcomed around 69 million tourists last year alone.
Surfshark warns that the main problem, however, is what happens after the vacation, as people usually forget to delete these apps, which continue to track your location via GPS or may be involved in data breaches, sometimes without you even realizing it.
The VPN provider highlighted how a widely used Canadian coffee app continued to track users’ locations even after it was shut down, or how inactive accounts on a well-known US parking app contributed to a 2021 data breach that affected 21 million users.
How to stay safe
While traveling across countries is certainly an incredible experience, your trip to Asia may not be worth these hidden costs.
Surfshark reminds users of the importance of downloading only trusted apps, using them only when necessary, checking app permissions in your phone’s settings, and deleting these apps immediately after your trip to avoid inadvertently sharing sensitive data.
And of course, the best travel VPNs will always be a valuable ally, alerting you to any data breaches wherever you are, ensuring you have an unforgettable trip – but only in a good way.
