90% of people don't read app terms and conditions, study reveals

Did you know they would take 17h to read the terms and conditions of the most downloaded apps in the west? The information comes from a study conducted in November by a financial institution in the United Kingdom. Also according to the survey, the application with the most extensive terms and conditions is the Microsoft Teams – app that became especially popular in 2020, due to the pandemic, and whose usage policy has more than 18 thousand words. Just to read the terms of the software, it would take a person 2 hours.

In addition to dealing with the extension of the terms of use of the most popular apps of the moment, the survey also highlighted the growth of the market: in 2019, smartphone users downloaded more than 204 billion apps – 26 times the population of the earth – in addition to spending more than 93 billion pounds (something around $ 640 billion) doing this. In 2020, that number of downloads grew by 40%, largely, it is believed, due to social distancing measures.

Due to this tremendous growth in usage and revenue, the institution reveals that it decided to investigate the permissions that applications require in their terms and conditions. The purpose of the survey was to point out the most harmful permissions for users. In the report that reveals the conclusions of the research, the institution also gave tips how to decide whether or not to grant a particular app access to our personal information.

Worldwide app revenue reached R$2,9 trillion in 2020, approximately US$581,9 billion. It is expected that, in the next 3 years, this number will jump to US$ 935,2 billion, or R$ 4,7 trillion.

In addition to the above data, the British thinkmoney also found, from data from the European Commission, that 90% of Brits accept the terms and conditions of apps without reading them. In a similar survey, the auditing firm Deloitte corroborated this data, finding that 91% of Americans also do not read usage and privacy policies. Among young Americans, the situation can be worse, since 97% of them do the same.

In trying to answer why people act the way they do, the research came to the expected conclusion that the terms and conditions are too long for anyone to read. Furthermore, a quick look was enough to notice that they are also complex – written in a technical, generic and ambiguous way, so that the user do not understand and not even interested in its content.

Below, check out how long, on average, it would take a person to read the terms and conditions of the 13 most downloaded apps in the UK – and which are also some of the most popular in Brazil. On the right is also shown the total words that the terms and conditions of each app have:

Surprising, huh? Well, more surprising than that is to note that, to read the terms and conditions of all the apps above, it would take a person 17 hours – the entire available period of their day, considering that someone will sleep for the remaining 7 hours. Altogether, the above privacy policies add up to 128 words, 30 thousand more than the book The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien and three times the average book of literature in number of pages.

Considering that the average length of a TikTok video is 15,6 seconds, you could see 370 of them on 1 hour and 33 minutes that you would spend to read the application policy. Another factor that caught the attention of the researchers is that the second largest policy of use is of a game and not from a social network: with 14.189 words, the terms and conditions of the game Candy Crush are larger than those of apps like Facebook, Instagram and Messenger. In the case of the latter, the terms are longer than most British students' TCCs. ()

'We need access to your camera and microphone'

When checking the content of the terms and conditions of the analyzed applications, thinkmoney also found that 92% of them they ask for access to the camera and the photos stored on the cell phone, as well as asking for access to the microphone. This in itself is not all that alarming, as most apps are social networks and therefore need access to these items to allow posting.

Even so, the study highlights the importance of knowing what permissions each application asks for on your cell phone, since, in older versions of iOS and Android, such accesses can be used maliciously. Until recently, the research report points out, apps that had access to the camera on iOS, for example, could take pictures without the user's knowledge. As of iOS 13, released in 2019, this loophole has been closed – which also indicates the importance of keeping the smartphone OS up to date.

Still on the permissions, thinkmoney found that 62% of applications analyzed ask for access to the user's location. Likewise, the report points out that, although this access is also necessary for the execution of several functions that interest the user, once an app is granted the permission to access its location, the user allows the software to make a list of the places where he's been.

In the image below, check the number of permissions that each app studied by thinkmoney asks the user:

In a way to raise awareness among British internet users, thinkmoney says that the most important thing is not to stop using these social networks just because of the permissions they request – or because of their intentionally confusing terms and conditions. For the company, what is essential is that users know what you are accepting when signing up for an app, as the impact of granting an app access to personal information is not always fully understood.

In most cases, users have no idea of how giving access to your contact list to an unknown app could put them at risk, albeit in the distant future. To avoid this type of 'trap', the company recommends that users, when faced with an app asking to access the camera or other information, reflect on whether that permission it really makes sense for their use of the app, as well as whether it makes sense for that app to be requesting such access.

Even though it's reasonable for Facebook to ask for access to your camera, as there's a tool within the app to take and post photos, you it is not necessary accept this permission if you do not use this tool. The same tip is also useful for other apps and permissions: you only need to authorize an app to have access to your location if you are going to use the functionality resulting from this access. Letting Instagram know where you are is only useful if you use it location markings in your photos, for example.

And you, did you like the study and the tips raised by thinkmoney about the terms and conditions of the mentioned apps? If you care about how your data is handled, you need to check out our selection with 8 apps that will help you better control your privacy and network security.

With information from: PC Magazine, The report of Statista, thinkmoney, Business Insider