How safe are these apps?

[db83]

How safe are these apps when it comes to your privacy? Some apps require access to your contacts and other data on your phone, but how safe are these apps considering they are coming from the market and not a major developer? Are apps that link to facebook trustworthy to not abuse their access to your private information?

 

[Backnblack]

How safe are these apps when it comes to your privacy? Some apps require access to your contacts and other data on your phone, but how safe are these apps considering they are coming from the market and not a major developer? Are apps that link to facebook trustworthy to not abuse their access to your private information?

Only as safe as the Developer makes them... Use Common Sense when it comes to apps. Read the disclaimers and reviews.

And as the other thread states, download banking apps from your bank...No where else.

 

[P_McNeal]

In light of the first scam coming to light, it would be smart for the market to have a small disclaimer of 'play at your own risk' on its front page. Most users are not going to be savvy, coming over from the iPhone or any other background, really.

The only reason I'm (reasonably) paranoid about apps is because I've seen old cracked Palm apps in rotation for years.

 

[Dan.Droid]

In light of the first scam coming to light,

What scam? I haven't been paying much attention lately...

 

[konstructa]

new store

I think they need to redo the market store. Maybe seperate by phone or something,or at least by OS. Does anyone else think they need to redo the store? They should at least filter out the crazy comments and the ones with curse words..Maybe even have official reviewers that people can follow..

 

[Jonno67]

Check the reviews when you thnk of downloading an app.
Also check the permissions it needs - like can it read your contacts and does it have internet permissions, etc.
Think about it logically - should a drawing application need GPS information etc etc

 

[640k]

always check what an application has access to and use common sense and judgement as to what or why that app would need that access.

if you elect to download a third party app to access your FB account, KNOW that the app now has access to all of your FB info.

the same goes with email, calendar or anything else that might hold private info.

if you can access services through the browser and the app makes you nervous, there is no reason not to use the website.

 

[P_McNeal]

I think they need to redo the market store. Maybe seperate by phone or something,or at least by OS. Does anyone else think they need to redo the store? They should at least filter out the crazy comments and the ones with curse words..Maybe even have official reviewers that people can follow..

I totally agree that the market should be redesigned. And soon, before it gets too big, too messy, and too confusing to users. Unlike the iPhone app store that it appears to be modeled upon, the market needs to better delineate for each phone version, each update version notes (ie: some software could, and should, be listed multiple times to run on different phones or different resolution screens, or any other criteria), and each category. Why torture users into digging around for apps and then give them so little info to compare each with?

Frankly, right now the 5-star review system is almost worthless, too. There is no grading criteria, constructive comments are rare, and by the look of it, the comments aren't monitored. I've seen advertising dropped across multiple app reviews, plus junk filled in that seems pulled right from the appmaker's website. Considering that users can lose their data (not to mention their identity) from a poorly or maliciously designed app, a little more thought should be shown in the marketplace.

 

[rothfest]

Let me preface this with LOVE my droid...

HOWEVER, it is very obvious to me that a rouge app stole my gmail password, logged in, created 400+ contacts and spammed the crap out of everyone.

My password is a 10 character random string entered nowhere else but on the Droid and my laptop...

In the time frame it occured, Google's logs showed ONLY logins from the IP address of my Droid.

I got rid of every app pretty much except the necessities and I was not willy nilly about what I had. FTP, SSH, console, File managers, etc... no games, no banking, no toys.

Rather disappointing.

 

[Droid101]

I think they need to redo the market store. Maybe seperate by phone or something,or at least by OS. Does anyone else think they need to redo the store? They should at least filter out the crazy comments and the ones with curse words..Maybe even have official reviewers that people can follow..

Yes the market needs a redo. For the comments I say keep it open but have an option to report the comment and then google can review it and remove it if necessary. I say they should split it up by country I couldn't count how many apps I have seen in Chinese or another foreign language.

 

[TxDoc]

Let me preface this with LOVE my droid...

HOWEVER, it is very obvious to me that a rouge app stole my gmail password, logged in, created 400+ contacts and spammed the crap out of everyone.

My password is a 10 character random string entered nowhere else but on the Droid and my laptop...

In the time frame it occured, Google's logs showed ONLY logins from the IP address of my Droid.

I got rid of every app pretty much except the necessities and I was not willy nilly about what I had. FTP, SSH, console, File managers, etc... no games, no banking, no toys.

Rather disappointing.

Did it occur after any certain apps were just added?