Google possibly snooping...?

SpaghettiCarbonara · August 6, 2014

Honestly I don't know what my girlfriend is talking about, since I'm on WP8, but apparently since a Google Play update, a few apps have been running without her opening them. She said something about her being able to see what apps are running and that's how she saw it. Apparently Wechat, Photos, a game and Notes were running.

Of course, my tin-foil-lined brain immediately made me think that it's probably Google snooping around in things they shouldn't, but then I thought maybe since it was Google Play, it might have been checking those apps for updates.

Got any ideas?

Hans Christian | Teri · August 6, 2014

Yes, put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, your girlfriend is not interesting enough to be spied on by a multi-billion corporation.

bartekxx12 · August 6, 2014

That's completely normal. Apps will run in the background mainly for syncing purposes, so that for example, a chat app knows when a message arrives and can notify you about it. Updates are another possibility. Or refreshing the app content so that it's up to date when you launch it.

All OS's will do this it's just that Android shows you what's going on, and yes I'm sure that Google is collecting some statistics and info about her which was probably mentioned in their terms and service, but then again so will Windows Phone, iOS, most apps you open and most websites you visit, statistics are very useful both for the companies and for us since they're often used to make our experience better.

SpaghettiCarbonara · August 7, 2014

That's completely normal. Apps will run in the background mainly for syncing purposes, so that for example, a chat app knows when a message arrives and can notify you about it. Updates are another possibility. Or refreshing the app content so that it's up to date when you launch it.

All OS's will do this it's just that Android shows you what's going on, and yes I'm sure that Google is collecting some statistics and info about her which was probably mentioned in their terms and service, but then again so will Windows Phone, iOS, most apps you open and most websites you visit, statistics are very useful both for the companies and for us since they're often used to make our experience better.

Thanks dude. You've been helpful, which is more than I can say for the other guy...