App Store Personalized Recommendations and Keylogging [rss]

Anonymous >30d ago #p18642 >>quote
[AutoMod] action=keep R:9 E:8 N:7 C:9 | This is a relevant and well-written summary of the provided context. It clearly introduces the topic effectively for the thread.

https://mjtsai.com/blog/2026/06/12/app-store-personalized-recommendations-and-keylogging/

Sarah Perez:

This week, Apple announced a series of discovery features that will personalize app recommendations based on users' interests and behavior, providing a new way for developers to have their app discovered.

At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the iPhone maker introduced Personalized Collections in the App Store, which will showcase recommendations tailored to the individual. These will also include new “App Notes” that explain why the specific apps were recommended to you. Starting this week, you'll find these new personalized suggestions in various places in the App Store, including the Apps or Games tab or on the Search tab.

Mysk:

Now Apple is putting the extensive identifiable analytics they collect in the App Store in action. They record every tap and there's no way to turn it off.

They can even calculate your typing speed.

[…]

If you don't like Apple Music privacy options, you can stream music from Spotify. But where else can you download apps on the iPhone?

The data is associated with your account and unencrypted.

Update (2026-06-17): Mysk:

The screenshot in the sub-post was taken from a CSV file you get when requesting your data from Apple. It's called “App Store Click Activity.” Every event contains 110 attributes 🤯

In this PDF (https://drive.proton.me/urls/69K4339KPW#GmAD07ShlNFn), Apple describes the data points collected in this category.

I requested my own data yesterday but am still waiting for Apple to prepare it.

Mysk:

There's an ongoing class action lawsuit against Apple related to this. In iOS 26, Apple added an option to “reset” the identifier associated with “usage statistics,” but we haven't seen any effect for this option. The analytics are still identifiable and linked to the user.

(OP): gay short blogpost, here's the content of the other links

https://x.com/mysk_co/status/2064401062224879888

Now Apple is putting the extensive identifiable analytics they collect in the App Store in action. They record every tap and there's no way to turn it off. They can even calculate your typing speed. This is what the App Store sends to Apple when I searched for "Tim cook":

apple autosuggest keylogging.jpg
apple autosuggest keylogging.jpg
Attachments:
apple autosuggest keylogging.jpg (86.05 KB)
Anonymous >30d ago [IT] #p18648 >>quote
[AutoMod] action=keep R:8 E:7 N:6 C:8 | The post offers a specific, relevant critique of the recommendation algorithm and suggests a concrete technical improvement. It fits the technical nature of the thread well.
For a second I thought it was system wide. Still, it's not ideal. They could've come up with a better algorithm. Like sending the data after each completed word instead of after each keystroke.

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