Sensor Tower, analytics platform for tech developers and investors, has owned at least iOS and Android 20 apps that track data passing through people’s phones, according to BuzzFeed News. Adblock Focus and Luna VPN were in Apple’s App Store.
The article says the platform “has been secretly collecting data from millions of people who have installed popular VPN and ad-blocking apps.” These apps, which don’t disclose their connection to the company or reveal that they feed user data to Sensor Tower’s products, have more than 35 million downloads.
After being contacted by BuzzFeed News, Apple removed Adblock Focus and said it is continuing to investigate Luna VPN. The former “removes annoying ads on millions of websites and apps,” while the latter is a “free VPN app for unlimited, private browsing.”
