While many third-party weather apps collect and sell user data, there are also plenty of trustworthy options on the market. In early 2019, a Google Play app, called Weather Forecast - World Weather Accurate Radar, was caught collecting user geolocations, IMEI identification numbers (which act as a serial number of sorts for mobile devices), and email addresses. Your location isn’t the only thing your app wants from you either. This data is highly profitable for outside parties such as advertisers. In many cases, third-party weather apps want your geolocation information. However, because users fork over this information without question, many also don’t question what else the app might use it for. Most users are only too happy to offer that information after all, you can’t get an accurate forecast without it. When you first installed a weather app, it probably asked you for access to your location. Third-Party Weather Apps Want Your Location (and More) These examples are far from the only situations in which weather apps have secretly collected and sold user data, and they likely won’t be the last. Meanwhile, AccuWeather was caught in 2017 for selling location data even when users had their locations turned off. In 2018, the New York Times reported that WeatherBug also collected and sent user data to third-parties. When the City of Los Angeles sued The Weather Channel, this was not the first time a forecasting app had been outed as allegedly misusing customer data. In light of this information, here’s what you need to know about third-party weather apps and how to protect your privacy: Because the majority of forecasting apps are free-to-use, the businesses behind them attempt to offset costs by collecting user data and selling it to the highest bidder (or bidders). For example, in early 2019, the City of Los Angeles sued The Weather Channel for allegedly harvesting and misusing customer data in ways that had nothing to do with the services provided by the company. Such is the case with some of the most popular weather apps on the market. We now expect these breaches, but sometimes our data leaks in ways we don’t expect. In 2017 an Equifax hack made waves around the world. Facebook is frequently in the news for secretly harvesting user data in different ways. We’re no strangers to breaches of data privacy.

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