Apple’s App Store charts are a great way to see what everyone is using at the moment and what some of the most popular apps are around. Now unfortunately for some of these apps, it appears that not all of them are on the straight and narrow because in a report shared with 9to5Mac, it appears that some of these top iOS apps are actually monetizing your location data.

The report from Sudo Security Group’s GuardianApp which was led by security researcher Will Strafach claims that these apps range in terms of their functionality, where some are weather-based apps, while others are used for fitness. Apparently it has been discovered that within these apps, there are codes that covertly share the user’s location with third-party data firms that monetize that data.

Now given that users need to explicitly give their permission to share their location, these apps can actually “hide” behind those permissions under the guise of providing weather information or help users track their run. For those who are concerned as to whether or not they have one of these apps installed, you can head on over to the GuardianApp website which details their findings as well as lists the apps that have been found to monetize location data. It also provides some tips on what users can do to try and limit/mitigate this tracking.

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