Hundreds of Android apps found covertly using your phone's microphone to track your TV habits

Hundreds of Android apps found covertly using your phone's microphone to track your TV habits

Hundreds of Android apps covertly use your phone's microphone to listen in on your TV habits, a new report has found.

More than 250 games on the Google Play Store, some of which are for children, were found to use software that documents the TV adverts and shows you watch.

The information is collected even when the apps are not running and is sold on to advertisers for ad targeting and analysis.

NYT reports that the Alphonso software is mostly used in games, some of which are geared towards children.

Some smartphone games have been found using a specific software that uses your device's microphone to track users' TV watching habits and collect data for advertisers. According to a recent New York Times report, more than 250 games on the Google Play Store use software from a company called Alphonso that uses the smartphone's mic to listen for audio signals in TV ads and shows.

The data collected is then sold to advertisers for ad targeting and analysis.

According to a new New York Times report, more than 250 games on the Google Play Store use the software.

Created by San Francisco firm Alphonso, the programme listens for audio signals in TV adverts and shows through the smartphone's microphone.

The software even detects sounds while stored in a pocket if the apps are running in the background.

According to Alphonso, its software does not record human conversation, and people are free to opt out of its tracking service at any time.

The firm's chief executive Ashish Chordia said Alphonso has even partnered with film studios to spy on people's viewing habits in theatres.

'A lot of the folks will go and turn off their phone, but a small portion of people don't and put it in their pocket,' Mr Chordia told the New York Times.

'In those cases, we are able to pick up in a small sample who is watching the show or the movie.'

One game called "Dream Run" by Dumadu Games - which has been downloaded and installed by about 5000 to 10,000 users - discloses under a "Read More" button that it is integrated with Alphonso Automated Content Recognition (ACR) software.

"With your permission provided at the time of downloading the app, the ACR software receives short duration audio samples from the microphone on your device," the disclosure reads. "Access to the microphone is allowed only with your consent, and the audio samples do not leave your device but are instead hashed into digital 'audio signatures.'

"The audio signatures are compared to commercial content that is playing on your television, including content from set-top-boxes, media players, gaming consoles, broadcast, or another video source (e.g., TV shows, streaming programs, advertisements, etc.)."

Dave Morgan, founder and CEO of Simulmedia, which works with marketers on targeted ads, told NYT: 'We have to be really careful as we have more devices capturing more information in living rooms and bedrooms and on the street and in other people's homes that the public is not blindsided and surprised by things.

'It's not what's legal. It is what's not creepy.'

WHICH GAMES SPY ON YOU? 

More than 250 games on the Google Play Store were found to use software that documents the TV adverts and shows you watch, a list of which has been compiled by the New York Times.

Popular entries to the list include:

- Pool 3D - 500,000 - 1,000,000 downloads

A virtual pool and billiards game. The app includes a disclosure on its use of Alphonso tracking in its description.

- Beer Pong: Trickshot - 50,000 - 100,000 downloads

A game in which players throw ping pong balls into cups. The app includes an Alphonso disclosure in its description. 

- Honey Quest - 50,000 - 100,000 downloads

Honey quest is a fruit cut / fruit shooter game featuring Jumbo, an animated bear. The game appears to be geared towards children.

- Real Bowling Strike 10 Pin - 100,000 - 500,000 downloads

A virtual bowling game. The app includes a disclosure on its use of Alphonso tracking in its description. App includes Alphonso disclosure.

- Casino Coin Rush - 50,000 - 100,000 downloads

The game involves dropping coins onto a conveyor belt, which starts to move towards a 'coin collector' box. The app includes an Alphonso disclosure in its description