Do mobile apps have cookies?

debitcardmayhem

goodValue said:

Thanks for the further explanations, which brought enlightenment.

Following the codepath link, I could see that Storage was a group Permission that is:
"Used for runtime permissions related to the shared external storage."

Does the Location permission have similar complications? Otherwise, it seems that a company could always know where you are when you accessed their website, but not when you use their app!

If the app involves using their website then of course they wll know when, also they will know your location either generally e.g. country or a closer guess if you have location/gps etc turned on.

km1500

When you are accessing the website you are doing it via browser for example the Chrome app and therefore it will depend what permissions the Chrome app has set

 for example if the Chrome app has location permission set on then the Chrome app will be able to access your location

goodValue

If the app involves using their website then of course they wll know when, also they will know your location either generally e.g. country or a closer guess if you have location/gps etc turned on.

Does this mean that for both
1 an app that sits on the companies website
2 a browser accessing the company website

they will always know which country you are in?

goodValue

When you are accessing the website you are doing it via browser for example the Chrome app and therefore it will depend what permissions the Chrome app has set

I didn't know that you could restrict Location information in a browser.
I looked in Chrome and found that I could deny Location, though it seems to be automatically set to give location.
If I deny Location in Chrome, would they still know which country the website was being accessed from?

If using the companies app rather than the website via a browser, and you denied location in the apps Permissions, would the effect be dependent on whether the app was a true standalone, or one that sat on top of the company website?

Neil_Jones

I think you're reading too much into this.

Doesn't matter what the browser is set to, your external IP that gets passed round when you go to websites will show what country you are (supposedly) visiting from.  The likes of TOR and VPN will mangle with this.

We've sort of gone off on a tangent here, but what exactly is your overall concern re: apps, cookies and permissions?  You do seem with all due respect a bit paranoid about something.

goodValue

We've sort of gone off on a tangent here, but what exactly is your overall concern re: apps, cookies and permissions?  You do seem with all due respect a bit paranoid about something.

I don't think I'm paranoid, maybe just a bit OCD about learning about technology.
I've only been using a smartphone and the internet for the last few years and so there's a lot I need to learn about. And, as the issue about Permissions showed, I've had to dig below the surface information to get an understanding.

Another example, your statement:

Doesn't matter what the browser is set to, your external IP that gets passed round when you go to websites will show what country you are (supposedly) visiting from.

seems to be a piece of fundamental information that is a great help in understanding what is going on.

goodValue

Doesn't matter what the browser is set to, your external IP that gets passed round when you go to websites will show what country you are (supposedly) visiting from.

seems to be a piece of fundamental information that is a great help in understanding what is going on.

And to get an even better understanding, is there an IP that gets passed when you are using an app?

debitcardmayhem

Yes everywhere you go on the internet the web presence uses Internet Protocol , and they have an IP address and you have an IP address which they need to talk to you. Your IP address is the address of your router which is assigned by your ISP.

Oh also moneysavinexpert.com has an IP address of 104.16.33.84 and 2606:4700::6811:2e53(for TCP/IP v6 as opposed to v4 which the first one is).

debitcardmayhem

If you want to learn more one example is https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/network-layer/internet-protocol/

[Deleted User]

goodValue said:

Doesn't matter what the browser is set to, your external IP that gets passed round when you go to websites will show what country you are (supposedly) visiting from.

seems to be a piece of fundamental information that is a great help in understanding what is going on.

And to get an even better understanding, is there an IP that gets passed when you are using an app?

I think you probably need to take a step back and explain what you are trying to achieve before drilling down to the way networks work and then you will get some better advice.

Start by answering these questions

1. What do I want to protect?
2. Who do I want to protect it from?
3. How likely is it that I will need to protect it?
4. How bad are the consequences if I fail?
5. How much trouble am I willing to go through to try to prevent potential consequences?

And use some resources like https://www.privacyguides.org/basics/threat-modeling/ from where I got the above questions.

But to answer your question, every single device connected to a network/internet has an IP address - but as to what relevance that has to privacy, then the above questions come into play.

For example, an IP address can be used by companies for relatively harmless marketing-related activities by:

1. Determining who provides your internet or mobile network services.
2. Getting an approximate location of your home-based internet (at best within a few miles but sometimes totally wrong).
3. Tracking repeated visits to websites when combined with your browser fingerprint.

But if on the other hand, you are worried about being tracked down for say politically sensitive or criminal activities then:

1. Government/law enforcement agencies can determine your exact address from your IP address.
2. Gain access to your internet activities including search history and website visits.

So the worst case is you could be locked up for activities tied to your IP address.

This is why those 5 questions above are so important.

Are you just trying to obscure yourself from marketing agencies that generally don't care about individual people and just use cookies to try to target you with advertisements or tailored shopping experiences?

Maybe you are just trying to keep your identity anonymous because you don't want people in your life to find you?

Maybe you want to be sure your personal data doesn't get into the hands of criminals.

Maybe, for example, you are an activist for a climate-based protest group and you want to securely plan your next road-blocking episode without government or law enforcement agencies tracking you down.

Maybe you have defected from Russia and don't want the Kremlin to send some people to put Novichok on your door handle?