Apple’s new App Store Personalized Collections feature is designed to recommend apps and games based on each user’s interests, but the feature has already raised privacy concerns because researchers say Apple collects highly detailed analytics inside the App Store.
Apple says Personalized Collections will appear across the Apps, Games, and Search tabs, with suggestions changing over time based on app usage and downloads. The company also plans to show App Notes, which explain why a specific app appears as a recommendation for a user.
Security researchers Mysk said the App Store records every tap a user makes and sends this identifiable analytics data to Apple. According to the researchers, this tracking also happens during search activity, and Apple can calculate details such as typing speed based on the data it receives.
The concern comes from the lack of a clear option to disable this App Store analytics collection. While personalized recommendations can help users discover better apps, the amount of behavioral data involved has led to questions about how much tracking happens inside Apple’s own apps.
Apple has long promoted privacy as a key part of its products, so this report puts more attention on how the company handles App Store activity data while expanding personalized recommendations.
