Fitness apps, by their very nature, have access to a wealth of personal data, especially data that tracks outdoor activities \u2014 primarily running. During tracking, they collect a ton of data \u2014 heart rate and other physical activity metrics, step count, distance covered, elevation changes, and, of course, geolocation \u2014 to give you a detailed analysis of your workout.<\/p>\n
And people rarely jog in random locations; their routes usually repeat and are often close to home, work, school, military base<\/span>\u2026 Essentially, places they go to often and, most likely, at regular times. What happens if this information falls into the wrong hands?<\/p>\n The consequences can be catastrophic. For instance, a few years ago, a map published by a certain running app revealed the locations of several secret military facilities<\/a>. And in the summer of 2023, a hitman allegedly used this data<\/a> to shoot to death Russian submarine commander Stanislav Rzhitsky during his run.<\/p>\n Of course, the leakage of geolocation data can be dangerous not only for military personnel. It\u2019s easy to imagine scenarios where it could lead to trouble not only for obvious targets \u2014 such as celebrities, political figures, or top company executives \u2014 but for ordinary people too.<\/p>\n Once they\u2019ve got their hands on your movement data, attackers can readily use it for blackmail and intimidation. If the victim hears that the criminal knows all their movements and where they live, they\u2019re significantly more likely to get scared and comply with any demands.<\/p>\n In addition to direct threats, geolocation info complements perfectly data leaked from other apps, or collected through doxing<\/a> \u2014 making targeted attacks much more potent. Don\u2019t think that you\u2019re not important enough for scammers to prepare a complex attack: anyone can become a victim, and the criminals\u2019 end goal isn\u2019t always financial gain.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just geolocation data that running apps collect and analyze. Like all fitness apps, they monitor activity and physical condition, which can reveal a lot about a person\u2019s health. This information can also be used in a social engineering attack \u2014 because the more an attacker knows about their victim, the more sophisticated and effective their actions can be.<\/p>\n So, it\u2019s essential to take due care when choosing your running app and setting up its privacy \u2014 and our tips will help you do just that.<\/p>\n The first thing you absolutely shouldn\u2019t do is install every running tracker in existence and then choose the one you like best. This way, you\u2019ll hand over your personal data to everyone, significantly increasing the risk of it falling into the wrong hands. The fewer apps you use, the lower the risk of a data leak \u2014 but remember, no company can guarantee 100% data security.<\/p>\n Some companies invest more in the security of their users than others, and preference should be given to those who take data protection and anonymization seriously. To ensure this, carefully read the privacy policy of your chosen app: responsible developers will specify what data the app collects, for what purpose, which data might be shared with third parties, and what rights users have regarding their personal data. It\u2019s also worth searching online or asking an AI assistant if the app you\u2019re interested in has been involved in any data leaks \u2014 simply type the app\u2019s name plus \u201cdata breaches\u201d or \u201cdata leak\u201d into a search engine. And, of course, checking user reviews is also a must.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve chosen and installed an app, the next thing to do is configure its privacy settings. Unfortunately, many running apps share collected data \u2014 including your geolocation \u2014 with the entire internet by default. You\u2019ll find links to detailed instructions on how to set up privacy for the most popular running apps \u2014 Strava, Nike Run Club, MapMyRun, adidas Running, and ASICS Runkeeper \u2014 at the end of this post.<\/p>\n As with any other app, it\u2019s a good idea to use your smartphone\u2019s operating system features to minimize tracking. For example, on iOS, when you first launch the app, you can block it from tracking your activity in other apps. Don\u2019t ignore this option.<\/p>\n In addition, don\u2019t grant the running app access to data that it doesn\u2019t need to function \u2014 such as photos, calls, messages, or contacts. To reduce the amount of location data collected, don\u2019t allow fitness trackers (or most other apps, for that matter) to monitor your geolocation continuously \u2014 choose the \u201cOnly while using the app\u201d option, available on iOS and the latest versions of Android. You can set this when you first launch the app, or later by reviewing all the app\u2019s permissions in your smartphone\u2019s settings or, for Android devices, in Kaspersky for Android<\/a>.<\/p>\n In general, it\u2019s a good idea to regularly check your smartphone\u2019s privacy and security settings<\/a> to see which apps have access to which data.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that privacy settings won\u2019t protect you from being tracked if someone guesses your account password. Unfortunately, none of the most popular running apps currently support two-factor authentication \u2014 although they really should. Therefore, the best thing you can do to protect your account is to create a long and complex password \u2014 preferably at least 16 characters long. Of course, it should be unique. To ensure you don\u2019t forget this combination of characters, save it in a password manager<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 which, by the way, can also generate a highly secure random password for you.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve selected the most popular jogging apps and prepared recommendations on how to set up privacy in each of them. Subscribe to our blog<\/a> to make sure you don\u2019t miss the instructions for your running tracker. As we publish the privacy setup guides, we\u2019ll be updating this post with the relevant links. The following apps will be covered:<\/p>\nGeneral tips for choosing a running app and configuring its privacy<\/h2>\n
Privacy settings for popular running apps<\/h2>\n