The White House has a new app, and what's hiding in the app's framework is a privacy and security nightmare.
The app, literally called "The White House," is designed to "deliver Unparalleled access to the Trump administration," according to the White House's announcement on Friday. But it may come at the cost of your personal data, online security and privacy.
The app is filled with data sharing and security concerns, including location tracking. Security researchers who looked under the hood reported finding lax protections and sketchy features. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The app is available now for both Android and iOS users, but should you download it? I did (briefly) so you don't have to. Here's what's in the app and why experts are outraged.
What's in The White House App?
The app opens with music and a brief collage video of President Donald Trump. It has pages on affordability, including the prices of things like eggs and milk (but not gas). There's an overtime calculator. And there are links to articles from Trump's favored news outlets, like Fox News and Newsmax, along with White House press releases.
The app also features livestreams and videos of press briefings, links to the White House's social feeds and photos of the president.
Why I deleted The White House app so fast
Behind all those tabs are hair-raising privacy and security issues that have the internet and experts alarmed.
One X user, @Thereallo1026, decompiled the White House app and blogged about it, reporting that the Android app tracks your location as often as every 4.5 minutes and shares a lot of information, like your location, notifications and perhaps even your phone number, with a third-party server.
Another red flag is that the code for YouTube embeds comes from a personal GitHub account. Thereallo said that if that GitHub account gets compromised, it can affect every user of the White House's app.
Another cybersecurity researcher, Atomic Computer Services, posted similar concerns about the iOS app. The researchers found that the app reported to the App Store that it did not collect location data, when in fact it included the capability to do GPS tracking. It's unclear whether that tracking actually happens is unclear, but the code is there, Atomic Computer said.
Other concerns identified by Atomic Computer included the removal of privacy consent banners from third-party content viewed in the app and minimal security protections. "We've audited apps for startups with three employees that had better security than this," Atomic Computer wrote.
Government-sponsored apps to inform people are commonplace, but this one poses significant risks, experts said. A spokesperson for the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for transparency and privacy in government technology, told CNET that "mobile apps can be a helpful tool for making government more accessible. But this administration has given people a lot of reasons to worry about their privacy, and this app only raises more questions about what the federal government is doing with our personal data."
For me, this app is a hard pass. I deleted it 10 minutes after downloading it.
