PSA: Ring’s Android app is secretly sending your data to Facebook, Google, and more

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There’s a party happening in your phone, and if you installed the Ring app on your Android phone, you invited all the trackers. That’s according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), who investigated the app and found multiple third-party trackers swiping right on all your data.

At this point, are you sure your Ring doorbell is actually making you safer?

Ring’s Android app is sending data to a whole mess of third-parties

You’d expect that when you install something sold as a security device, that you, and your home, would become more secure. You’d be wrong, at least in the case of Ring’s range of devices. See, the Android app is sending out your personal data to marketing and analytics companies, including the mighty Facebook.

• Three of the trackers aren’t identified on Ring’s privacy notice
• Personal data is being sent to marketing and analytics firms such as Facebook, Mixpanel, Appsflyer, Branch.io, and Google-owned Crashalytics
• This data can be used to fingerprint the user, tracking them across the internet and beyond

Look, by now you should have seen enough stories on Ring to know that you’re safer if you take the doorbell off the wall, stamp on it, and go back to twitching your curtains like how they used to do in the olden days.

What do you think? Does this make you second guess using a Ring camera? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Ring admits to firing employees that abused company policies
• Amazon is working on tech that identifies shoppers by the veins in their hands
• Apparently, Facebook’s “clear history” tool is a big fucking sham
• Ring security cams are getting hacked left and right – here’s how to protect yours

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.