Even with all the security improvements Android is receiving from one update to the other, we also have our part to play in order to maintain the privacy of our personal data. And I don’t mean you should stop posting pics of the fanciest foods you ate. What you decide to share online should be entirely up to you.
I’m referring to your credentials, passwords, contacts, email addresses and the likes. This is the stuff that may not be as private as you think, especially if you use your social profiles to login to various apps and services – and who doesn’t these days. Not all of them are equally trustworthy and you should do a major cleanup in this department, at least every once in a while.
Today, we’re going to discuss a simple way to see which apps can access your online profiles such as Facebook, Google, Twitter and others.
For the purpose of this guide, we’ll use an app called MyPermissions – Privacy Shield. It can scan your phone to analyze app permissions as well as check your online profiles and see the apps that can access them.It currently supports Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo!, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Flikr and Instagram. It doesn’t just check Android apps – MyPermissions also shows web apps that are connected to your social profiles.
You could view the same information in the settings section of your accounts, but this would mean you have to visit each profile and it’s way more comfortable to let My Permissions do it for you. Let’s see how it works.
Download MyPermissions (Google Play)
Install MyPermissions – Privacy Shield from the link above, then open the app and you’ll be greeted by a slideshow meant to guide you through the app’s features.
Go to the last slide and tap on the ‘Scan Now‘ button.
Once the scan process is complete, the results will be displayed in the app’s main window. The initial scan only analyzed the apps installed on your phone. To see what apps and services are connected to your social accounts tap on the blue square found in the lower right area of the screen.
From here you can select one of the supported services, log into it, and the apps accessing it will be added to the ‘Access personal info’ category. Tap on it to view the apps which can access your personal information.
When you tap on a certain items in the list, you can see its permissions in a dedicated window grouped in one or more categories, but also what type of app it is in the upper area of the screen (i.e. Android apps, Google apps, Facebook apps and so on).
Lastly, you can revoke (remove) any app from your social accounts, report it or mark it as trusted.
You might be in for a surprise when you open this list for the first time – even uninstalled apps you haven’t used in ages can still be connected to your social accounts. MyPermissions – Privacy Shield is not the only app that can help you clean up your online profiles but it works well and it sure makes it much easier to improve your online privacy.
Have you found any suspicious apps connected to your social accounts? Let us know in the comments section or leave us a message on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
