{"id":230992,"date":"2026-04-04T01:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/04\/fbi-warns-iphone-and-android-users-do-not-install-these-apps\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:50:21","slug":"fbi-warns-iphone-and-android-users-do-not-install-these-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/04\/fbi-warns-iphone-and-android-users-do-not-install-these-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI Warns iPhone And Android Users\u2014Do Not Install These Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/fbi-warns-iphone-android-users-053319444.html\">FBI Warns iPhone And Android Users\u2014Do Not Install These Apps<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/fbi-warns-iphone-android-users-053319444.html\">https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/fbi-warns-iphone-android-users-053319444.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-04-04 01:33:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"uk.news.yahoo.com\">uk.news.yahoo.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">It should be obvious \u2014 but unfortunately it\u2019s not. Some of the most popular apps you have likely downloaded on your iPhone or Android smartphone are dangerous. And now the FBI is warning U.S. citizens to stop all such installs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The bureau\u2019s new Public Service Announcement highlights the \u201cdata security risks associated with foreign-developed mobile applications (apps) frequently used in the United States; however, these concerns are global. As of early 2026, many of the most downloaded and top-grossing apps in the United States are developed and maintained by foreign companies, particularly those based in China.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\"><span><span>MORE FROM FORBES<\/span><span>Do Not Make These Calls On Your iPhone, Warns Apple<\/span>By Zak Doffman<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This warning links back to China\u2019s infamous national security laws, which the FBI reminds smartphone users enables \u201cthe Chinese government to potentially access mobile app users\u2019 data.\u201d In short, the laws mandate developers based in China do all they can to support the country\u2019s national security imperatives \u2014 including sharing data. It\u2019s the same mandate that plagued TikTok ahead of its U.S. split.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The FBI says users should be aware \u201cof what user data these apps request access to upon download.\u201d But in reality, these privacy polices are very rarely checked. That\u2019s why so-called permission abuse is such a nightmare for smartphone users. \u201cWhen access is permitted by the user, the app can persistently collect data and users\u2019 private information throughout the device.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The data at risk includes contact lists, which could enable those collecting the data in China or elsewhere to build social graphs. In the wrong hands, these are invaluable to nation-state or mercenary hackers, using a hack on one person to socially engineer hacks on one or more higher value targets that they know.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cSome platforms offer the option to invite friends or contacts to use the apps. With default permissions, developer companies can store collected data on users\u2019&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/fbi-warns-iphone-android-users-053319444.html\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FBI Warns iPhone And Android Users\u2014Do Not Install These Apps https:\/\/uk.news.yahoo.com\/fbi-warns-iphone-android-users-053319444.html Publish Date: 2026-04-04 01:33:00&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230993,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/en\/forbes_contributor_845\/372968dde0b3895e635c945593c26e15","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[28,57],"class_list":["post-230992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iphone","tag-data-security","tag-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230992"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230994,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230992\/revisions\/230994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}