App Profiles

What do applications do with all those permissions?

Have you ever wondered what applications are doing with all those permissions they ask for? This app seeks to help users better understand the privacy and security implications of the software they install. We analyze applications offline in order to detect the possible actions written into the application source code, then display a summary of our findings to the user.

Apps with existing profiles will show up in green, whereas those not yet analyzed will show up in gray. We are in the process of analyzing all of the available free apps on the market, but we will give priority to applications requested by users of AppProfiles, so please check back in a few hours if you don't see an application you're interested in. (Note that we do not provide information about paid apps or apps not downloaded through the Android Market.)

You also have the option to indicate what app behaviors you don't like by toggling the face next to each action, or indicate if you are uncomfortable with an app's behavior, then pressing "Submit" to upload your feedback. We encourage you to do so as it helps make the app more effective as well as helping us with our research.

We are researchers at the University of Michigan and have no commercial interests in this app, and use the Internet permission only to deliver summaries to your phone and allow you to submit feedback. We track individual feedback submissions via a large, random number generated on your phone (which is not derived from any personally identifiable information in any way). You can opt out of this by unchecking the relevant checkbox on the feedback page, or alternately by not submitting feedback.

If you have any further questions about any of the applications, feel free to contact us.