This is something you can keep in check, thanks to the privacy controls on today's iPhone, but the truth is that most people don't. Even a flashlight app, it turns out, can ask for a shocking amount of user data when you download it, tapping everything from my calendar to my phone's location engine to my camera. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I was potentially handing over a boatload of data to advertisers as well. I remember that smug sense of self-congratulation after I downloaded the software, which converted the iPhone's LED flash into a steady and bright beam of light.īut I shouldn't have been so pleased with myself. Or maybe a pen had rolled under my couch. When I downloaded the Flashlight app to my iPhone, I was in a jam.
