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It's time to play Choose a door for your apps, a game show that, admittedly, not many people watch.
Behind Gate # 1: this box of familiar user names and countless reused passwords and emails reset for Hamster Gate # 2: A fast connection with a lifetime supply of intrusive ads . Door # 3? A more private entrance. Just know that for now, door # 3 is hard to find.
I am talking about the login screen of all the favorite applications. You can log in with a username and password, or choose a gateway managed by
Facebook
,
Google or – soon, in some cases-
Apple
.
AAPL -1.94%
In an effort to replace its competitors with advertising, Apple is offering a privacy-focused app connection service with the arrival of iOS 13 on Thursday.
Photo:
Kenny Wassus / The Wall Street Journal
What you may not have understood about these other handy login buttons is that your personal information can be shared in the background and used to follow you. Heck, there was a time when I did not know it myself. When I first registered for Spotify using Facebook, I unwittingly chose to share my email address, my friends list and my birthday. That's a lot of information, just to listen to my Acoustic Covers playlist.
Apple, on the other hand, has designed its button for you to share less with the creators of apps. You can even create a disposable email address.
After testing the new Apple feature in some of the first supported applications, I can tell you that it's the best option – if any of the applications you're using actually add it. Apple has come a long way and faces some resistance from application manufacturers who rely on these incumbents not only for their marketing, but also for their security.
Until more companies adopt this principle, Apple's biggest contribution is to get us to wonder why they provide these "single signature" services and what we get in return. .
(Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, has entered into a commercial agreement to provide information via Apple's services.)
How do they work, anyway?
When you choose a door in an application, you assume responsibility for your username and password or trust one of the major technology companies to handle the authentication for you. If you choose the latter option, simply log in with your Facebook / Google / Apple credentials to confirm your identity. You often use two-factor authentication that allows you to scan your fingerprint or face or enter a secret code sent. via text or application. Then they give a boost to the application without sharing your password. (See the video for a more colorful explanation, which also involves gates.)
Why is it better than a new username and password?
If you use strong, unique passwords and store them in a password manager, as I've been suggesting for a long time, you may be able to create a new account for each application and service. Even then, security experts argue for connection via a large technology company.
On the one hand, they have bigger divisions dedicated to security. They can solve problems that small businesses may not be able to solve. In addition, small businesses can not always implement two-factor authentication, a basic requirement nowadays.
Photo:
Joanna Stern / The Wall Street Journal
So what is the problem?
Even the simplest personal information, such as an e-mail address, can be used to follow you from one application to another or from one website to another. Google shares at least your profile photo, name, and email address with the application publishers using its unique sign-on options. Facebook requires that you share your profile picture and your full name.
Apps that use Facebook often require even more. Take Tinder. Log in and he will ask you to access your list of Facebook friends, your birthday, your photos, your page preferences and your email address. A panel lets you set sharing options, but all permissions are enabled by default.
What are the benefits for Google and Facebook?
Mark Risher,
Senior Director of Product Management for Google Account, indicates that the company provides this service to secure the Internet. (It certainly also makes it easier for Google to provide its other services, from Gmail to search.) Risher says the company does not use this collected information to target ads.
But Facebook does. Facebook Login "allows businesses to create a personalized audience of people who have visited their properties. Thus, a company can post advertisements on Facebook for people who have visited its sites and applications, "said a spokesman for Facebook.
Even if you do not want Facebook to profit from your Internet behavior, the company has always misused the data and disclosed it to third parties, in the case of Cambridge Analytica and many others. (The company has updated its data policies last year in response.) There are also violations: in 2018, a Facebook data breach was linked to its single sign-on tool.
Photo:
Joanna Stern / The Wall Street Journal
How does the Apple option work?
Like Google, Apple shares your name and email address with the app, but it gives you the option to hide your email address or change your name. She will share an anonymous email address, and then forward any email from the creator of the app to your actual email address. The Bird and Scooter Bird app think my email is [email protected] … and that I'm calling Scooby Doo.
Developers can also implement the Apple Connect button on Mac apps and websites.
What are the benefits for Apple?
While Apple takes on the role of superhero of Big Tech's privacy protector, it's less altruism, more clever marketing: the more you trust Apple, the more you continue to buy your devices and use your devices. applications, many of which charge monthly subscriptions.
Which applications offer this?
Until now, the number of popular applications using this new Apple tool is low. I've tested this feature in Bird and in the Lifecake family photo diary app. Kayak,
Nike
,
Instacart and LoseIt are also among the applications that Apple has confirmed to implement the connection to Apple this fall.
When I contacted other major iOS app makers, those who use Facebook and / or Google login buttons, including Postmates,
and Venmo said that they had not yet intended to add this feature. Others, including TikTok, Evernote and Todoist, said this was on the roadmap. Spotify declined to comment.
The latest guidelines for Apple developers require that all applications offering a social connection also implement the connection with Apple. Starting last week, new applications submitted must offer the button. Existing applications and their updates must follow by April 2020.
What are the disadvantages of the Apple option?
In cases like Tinder's, the benefit of anonymity for a user can be problematic for other users. "Verifying the identity of a user with the help of his login credentials helps us to prevent people who have been removed for their conduct from accessing our service," he said. said a spokesman for Tinder.
SHARING YOUR THOUGHTS
Do you prefer to login to apps with a username and password or to let Facebook or Google sign in for you? Why? Join the conversation below.
There is also the fact that the iPhone is not immune from security breaches. In addition, who could forget the hackers iCloud celebrities in 2014? Apple requires two factors to connect with Apple.
Finally, even if your favorite app adopts it, you may need to create a new account to use it.
So what should I do?
I want more apps makers to use, not on foot, the Apple option as an alternative to Facebook and Google. For now, just be on the lookout. If you do not see it, I recommend Google as the fastest and safest alternative. Do yourself a favor and choose your doors wisely.
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Write to Joanna Stern at [email protected]
Copyright й 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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