Twitter is about to become more annoying for some users, as the company will start tracking what other mobile apps iOS and Android owners are using in a push to better profile users, and thus improve its targeted advertising business.
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As Re/code reports, the feature is opt-out, meaning that as soon as the official Twitter app for iPhone or Android is installed, it’ll start collecting data until you specifically opt out of it. Before sending any data to Twitter, the app will display a prompt, telling the user about the feature.
The move should help Twitter improve content recommendations and make Twitter more interesting for new users — instead of seeing blank pages initially, new Twitter users would get some content based on what Twitter learns about them.
Even though Twitter will be able to see what apps are in use on your smartphone at a given time, the service doesn’t get access to what happens in those apps, so removing this feature isn’t absolutely necessary to guard one’s privacy. As the publication reports, others have similar practices, including Facebook.
But Twitter has set up a support page on its website that tells users how to opt out of this new data collection practice.
On iOS, users simply have to go to the Me tab, tap the gear icon, tap Settings, tap the account name they want to adjust, go to Privacy, and adjust the Tailor Twitter based on my apps setting.
Similarly, on Android users can go to the overflow icon, choose Settings, select the account to change, tap on Other and adjust the same Tailor Twitter based on my apps setting.
More details on Twitter’s new apps usage collection policy are available at the source link.
