T-Mobile is selling your app usage data to advertisers—here’s how to opt out

T-Mobile’s advertising business is offering a new way for marketers to engage in your app-use habits. ad exchanger reports that Un-carrier’s new program is called App Insights, and it’s now fully operational after spending a year in beta. The program allows third-party marketers to purchase T-Mobile customer data and is centered around a key piece of information it has unique access to: what apps you use.

Customer data is kept anonymized, and it is collated with others with similar interests and behaviours, so companies cannot buy a specific user’s app history. Still, it’s scary. The company’s advertising section explains this offering on its website loud and clear, with the phrase “Apps speak louder than words” printed at the top of the page. It also invites potential customers to “leverage App Insights, the strongest indicator of consumer intent.” that’s gross. Thankfully, you can exit.

T-Mobile offers an Android and iOS app called “Magenta Marketing Platform Choice” that allows you to see which companies have access to your data and opt out entirely. You can also use the app option if you don’t want to, you know, Download a T-Mobile App To opt out of T-Mobile app tracking. According to ad exchanger, iOS users are excluded from the program even if they have opted for app tracking.

This kind of creepy behavior from carriers isn’t new, and it’s unlikely to get any better. Companies like Google and Apple allow people to opt out of tracking more easily, with marketers looking for different ways to watch your online habits. Wireless carriers have eagerly jumped in to provide that information, and T-Mobile is only the latest to do so.