Your Weight Loss App Might Be Spying on You, Here’s What You Need to Know!

According to an analysis of 15 most popular weight control apps, it was found that most of them collected 13 types of data with Noom app being the most data hungry. Noom app is one of the most popular weight control apps on the App Store with 65% of downloads from the UK and US only. 5% of downloads of Noom app are from South Korea, Germany and Canada. Apple has defined 35 total data collection categories and Noom collects data from 22 of these categories. The analysis also shows that 15 apps which have been analyzed collect 53% of the more unique data than average.

Many apps do tracking which refers to linking data collected from the app to third parties which is then used for advertising or sharing data with data brokers. 47% of the apps analyzed use unique data types for tracking, with Noom standing out among other apps. The only app among 15 apps which do not collect data to track users is Calorie Counter+. Most apps which were analyzed engage in above-average user tracking with five apps (Noom, Lose It!, Simple, WeightWatchers and Fastic) raising more concerns about user privacy.

Beyond Noom, other apps also collect a substantial amount of unique data. Cronometer and Simple gather 17 unique data types, while Fastic collects 16. In contrast, apps like YAZIO, BodyFast, and Eato® collect fewer unique data types, staying under ten. Interestingly, even apps with high data collection do not always track users extensively—Cronometer, for instance, gathers 17 data types but tracks only three, while MyFitnessPal tracks just two despite collecting 10 unique data types.

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These apps use different types of user data like email addresses, photos, videos and even more sensitive information which some apps state as “Other data types”. HitMeal and MyNetDiary are some apps which can track user data by giving it the name of “Other data types”. HitMeal makes 13% of downloads in the UK and 57% of downloads in the US on the App Store. On the other hand, MyNetDiary has 13% downloads in the UK and 54% of the downloads in the US.

App Name	Data Used to Track	Collected Unique Data Types
Noom Weight Loss, Food Tracker	7	22
Fastic AI Food Calorie Scanner	6	16
Calorie Counter - MyNetDiary	5	11
HitMeal Calorie & Food Tracker	5	11
Simple: Weight Loss Coach	5	17
Lose It! – Calorie Counter	4	14
WeightWatchers Program	4	13
Cronometer: Calorie Counter	3	17
MyFitnessPal: Calorie Counter	2	10
BodyFast: Intermittent Fasting	2	9
YAZIO Calorie Counter & Diet	1	9
Eato®: AI Calorie Counter	1	8
Foodvisor - Calorie Counter	1	13
Lifesum Food & Calorie Tracker	1	7
Calorie Counter +	0	14

H/T: Surfshark

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World