4 ms·

What exactly is a native app going to 'track'? It has zero access to your browser.

Moru 8y ago
A native app on windows have full access to your computer and can track just about everything from what you click in the app to passwords entered in other apps and websites.
- stephenr 8y ago
  Thats more of an advert for not using Windows than not using Native Apps.
  - icebraining 8y ago
    It's not really Windows-specific; both Windows and macOS have sandboxes to prevent that behavior, but both allow you to download and run unsandboxed applications.
yosamino 8y ago
When you open the app, when you close it, which button you press, which device you are on, which ip address this device is using ... there's a whole lot of things that fall under the general term "tracking". There can be arguments made about if this is good/bad/neccessary/terrible/etc. but it's easily possible and done all the time. Google Analytics makes it easy for example: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/android/v4/ https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection...
- stephenr 8y ago
  While I can see some wouldn't accept that level of information gathering, most of that doesn't tell the app author much. It's not like a web-app that uses GA, which in turn means google's internal profile of you shows another app you use/etc. The creepy level tracking that GA is possible of in a browser isn't quite there in a native app - there's no intrinsic data storage system like cookies that's shared between all native apps and sent automatically with http requests.
  - tomsmeding 8y ago
    I suppose it can read/write the browser's cookie database whenever the browser isn't running -- or maybe even when it's running, I don't know. That would enable using Google Analytics just as if it was a webpage. Do not forget that native code running locally is at least as powerful as X, for almost any X that you can use on your computer. (The only thing that's more powerful than that, is native code running locally as root.)
    - davchana 8y ago
      Really? I thought browsers encrypt their user data & such with some type of user credentials?
      - gruez 8y ago
        Suppose that's the case. How does the browser get the credentials? It's probably not from the user, because I never heard of a browser that requires a password at startup. It could be from the OS, but native "apps" aren't sandboxed, nor are they signed, so the OS has no way of differentiating between 2 apps.
        stephenr 8y ago
        > nor are they signed macOS apps are increasingly signed, because there are additional steps a user must take to run unsigned apps.
      - icebraining 8y ago
        Chrome on Windows encrypts the passwords using the Windows encryption functionality, which is tied to the user's account. Any software running on the same account can decrypt them.
        davchana 8y ago
        Oh ok, so but in chrome, I have to type my windows password to reveal my saved password. Can a native.exe app do that without requiring me to type my windows password?
ValentineC 8y ago
I just had a look at my macOS firewall (Hands Off) and can count at least 15 seemingly-native apps being blocked from accessing www.google-analytics.com.

Moru 8y ago

A native app on windows have full access to your computer and can track just about everything from what you click in the app to passwords entered in other apps and websites.

stephenr 8y ago
Thats more of an advert for not using Windows than not using Native Apps.
- icebraining 8y ago
  It's not really Windows-specific; both Windows and macOS have sandboxes to prevent that behavior, but both allow you to download and run unsandboxed applications.

yosamino 8y ago

When you open the app, when you close it, which button you press, which device you are on, which ip address this device is using ... there's a whole lot of things that fall under the general term "tracking". There can be arguments made about if this is good/bad/neccessary/terrible/etc. but it's easily possible and done all the time. Google Analytics makes it easy for example: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/android/v4/ https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection...

stephenr 8y ago
While I can see some wouldn't accept that level of information gathering, most of that doesn't tell the app author much. It's not like a web-app that uses GA, which in turn means google's internal profile of you shows another app you use/etc. The creepy level tracking that GA is possible of in a browser isn't quite there in a native app - there's no intrinsic data storage system like cookies that's shared between all native apps and sent automatically with http requests.
- tomsmeding 8y ago
  I suppose it can read/write the browser's cookie database whenever the browser isn't running -- or maybe even when it's running, I don't know. That would enable using Google Analytics just as if it was a webpage. Do not forget that native code running locally is at least as powerful as X, for almost any X that you can use on your computer. (The only thing that's more powerful than that, is native code running locally as root.)
  - davchana 8y ago
    Really? I thought browsers encrypt their user data & such with some type of user credentials?
    - gruez 8y ago
      Suppose that's the case. How does the browser get the credentials? It's probably not from the user, because I never heard of a browser that requires a password at startup. It could be from the OS, but native "apps" aren't sandboxed, nor are they signed, so the OS has no way of differentiating between 2 apps.
      - stephenr 8y ago
        > nor are they signed macOS apps are increasingly signed, because there are additional steps a user must take to run unsigned apps.
    - icebraining 8y ago
      Chrome on Windows encrypts the passwords using the Windows encryption functionality, which is tied to the user's account. Any software running on the same account can decrypt them.
      - davchana 8y ago
        Oh ok, so but in chrome, I have to type my windows password to reveal my saved password. Can a native.exe app do that without requiring me to type my windows password?

ValentineC 8y ago

I just had a look at my macOS firewall (Hands Off) and can count at least 15 seemingly-native apps being blocked from accessing www.google-analytics.com.