Group Video Chat
#1 Social NetworkingiOS Review
Houseparty has over 50 million active users, but it doesn't ask for user consent before throwing data at third party trackers, and it doesn't give the user any way to opt-out. A well-resourced company like Houseparty can and should do better.
Houseparty's Privacy Rating is C. We found 6 different third-party trackers in the Houseparty app, and there were 224 attempted tracking connections detected during our test.
Blocked tracking attempts.
How was tracker testing done?
Tested using Lockdown v0.3.6 with "Marketing (Beta)" Block List enabled.
What was done during the test?
224 tracking attempts in the 5 minute test: app installed, launched, signup for account, and ten second video chat.
How many tracking attempts each time the app is opened?
36 tracking attempts on each app open.
Did user give consent to tracking before tracking started?
No. Tracking began immediately after first launch, without user consent.
Other important red flags or notes?
The "Connect To Facebook" feature was not used. Using it would have likely resulted in Facebook Tracker activity.
Marketing
Mobile Ad Attribution Platform
Show Collected Data ›Privacy Policy: Unique identifiers, IP address, User agent, the URL from the referring website, downloads and installations of Applications, and other interactions, events, actions, Customer issued user ID, clicks on Customer ads, ad impressions viewed, audiences or segments to which an ad campaign is attributed, the type of ads and the webpage or Application from which such ads were displayed, the webpages on Customer’s website visited by an End User, IDFA (identifier for advertisers), Android ID; Google Advertiser ID, browser type, device type and model, CPU, system language, memory, OS version, Wi-Fi status, time stamp and zone, device motion parameters, carrier.
Analytics
Bug reports, surveys, feedback
Show Collected Data ›Privacy Policy: Personal Data includes Data Subjects’ email, name and IP address, and other Personal Data that Client may submit through or upload to the Company’s systems the extent of which is determined and controlled by the Client in its sole discretion
Marketing
Customer engagement platform for growth
Show Collected Data ›Privacy Policy contains vague descriptions of "Personal Data", including IP address, device identifier and usage information. Due to lack of disclosure, they're likely not compliant with GDPR and/or CCPA. Site footer still shows Copyright 2019 as of April 16th 2020.
Analytics
User Data
Customer Data Platform
Show Collected Data ›Privacy Policy: Contact Information, Profile Information, Communications, Marketing Information, Financial Transaction Information, Device Data, Online Activity Data, Professional or Employment Information, User Preferences
Marketing
Mobile measurement, linking platform
Show Collected Data ›Privacy Policy: IP Address, Cookie, Link Data, User Agent, Referrer, Request, Phone Number, Engagement Data, iOS Identifier for Advertising, iOS Identifier for Vendors, Android Advertising ID, Android ID, Branch Cookie ID, App Version, Device model, Manufacturer, Operating system, Operating system version, Screen size, screen resolution, Session start/stop time, Mobile network status (WiFi, etc), Application installed time, Application updated time, Device locale (country and language), Local IP address, Mobile platform, Branch SDK version, Carrier ID, MAC address, Windows Advertising ID, CPU ID
Analytics
Realtime issue reporting
Show Collected Data ›Privacy Policy: Owned by Google, so same as Google's Privacy Policy. Personal information, email address, apps, browsers, devices, unique identifiers, browser type and settings, device type and settings, and too much more to fit here.
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