A small number of Android apps (3.73 per cent) contained more than 10 tracking libraries, compared to 3.13 per cent on iOS. The researchers said apps from both platforms commonly use tracking libraries, noting that the median number of tracking libraries in an app was three on both platforms. 'Overall, we find that neither platform is clearly better than the other for privacy across the dimensions we studied,' the paper says. Specifically, the researchers found lack of user consent for third-party tracking, lack of parental consent sharing PII in kids' apps, tracking libraries not configured to minimize data collection, sending data to countries without adequate data protection, and design decisions by Apple and Google that limit transparency about tracking.
