facebook: iPhone users, researchers have a ‘Facebook warning’ for you – Times of India

Security researchers (via Forbes) have warned iOS users that the Facebook app installed on their device is still harvesting their data with the help of the accelerometer even if they have opted out of the third-party app tracking.
The accelerometer records your location data based upon your movements and as such, Facebook can track where you are at a certain time of the day and hence, figure out your behaviour and habits. With the help of the data, Facebook can also reportedly link you with people around you even if they are total strangers. The accelerometer data can also reportedly help Facebook know if you are lying down, sitting, or walking while using an app.
Cybersecurity researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk, in a statement given to Forbes, warn that “Facebook reads accelerometer data all the time. If you don’t allow Facebook access to your location, the app can still infer your exact location only by grouping you with users matching the same vibration pattern that your phone accelerometer records.”

They added that the issue impacts Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, though, with WhatsApp, it’s possible to disable the feature.
Tommy Mysk also added in the report that he tested TikTok, WeChat, iMessage, Telegram and Signal and found that they do not use the accelerometer to track the user’s activities.
For now, there seems to be no way to turn the accelerometer tracking off and getting rid of the app on their iPhones looks to be the only way to evade snooping by Mark Zuckerberg’s social media company, for now.