Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have shared privacy concerns to Google around the level of personal data being collected by its Messages and Dialer apps on Android phones.

The research team analysed the data sent to Google by Android “core apps”, which handle SMS text messages and calls received and sent by the device. The team said these apps are usually pre-installed on many Android phones and used on more than 1bn devices worldwide.

The study, led by Prof Doug Leith, suggests these apps send a large amount of data to Google, such as letting the tech giant know whenever a message is sent or received. The study also claims there is no option to opt out of the data collection.

The researchers said the data collected from Messages includes a timestamp, the device’s number and an ID code on the message, which lets Google see which devices are communicating and at what times.

“I was surprised to see such obviously sensitive data being collected by these Google apps,” Leith said. “It’s not at all clear what the data is being used for and the lack of an opt-out is extremely concerning.”

Similarly, the team said the Dialer app can let Google see whether two handsets are calling one another, at what times and for how long.

These apps also give Google information about the user’s interaction with it, such as when the app is accessed, or a message is viewed. The data sent to Google is tagged with the handset’s Android ID, which is linked to the user’s Google account.

The researchers said this means the data sent can regularly link to the user’s personal details, such as their email and credit card details, as these can be included in a user’s Google account information.

The team said they informed Google of their findings and delayed publishing the study for several months to engage with them.

“On foot of this report Google say that they plan to make multiple changes to their Messages and Dialer apps,” the study said.

The team said the study is a technical one, not a legal one, but added that the findings raise “obvious questions regarding GDPR data protection regulators in Europe”.

One of the tech giant’s tools, Google Analytics, has been facing pressure from regulators in France and Austria, as these watchdogs said examples of its use did not comply with EU data protection law.

Leith said this research was triggered by their previous study on Covid-19 privacy tracing apps. These apps raised concerns when they were first over how they handle the user’s data.

“While we found these apps to generally be quite privacy respecting, our measurements highlighted the tremendous volume of data being sent to Google by Google Play Services on Android phones,” Leith said.

“Hopefully our work will act as a wake-up call to the public, politicians and data regulators. It really is time we started to take meaningful action to give people full information on the data that leaves their phones, details as to what it is being used for and, mostly importantly, the ability to opt out from this data collection,” he added.

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