You track the weather, but does your weather app track you in return?

Countless individuals consult a weather forecast daily through an app, unaware that it comes at the cost of their privacy.

Weather apps and websites have a notorious reputation for harvesting personal data, as revealed by The New York Times' Wirecutter in a May 2021 review. The study found that 17 out of 20 weather apps reviewed were collecting data to track devices for advertising, and 14 were using location data for tracking purposes. The reason? The data collection is incredibly profitable, with location-based ad targeting generating an estimated $21 billion in 2019.

The widely used app "Weather Forecast — World Weather Accurate Radar" was discovered to be gathering location data, email addresses, and International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers—a unique 15-digit code used to identify devices—according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal. Despite this, the free app, developed by TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd. in Shenzhen, China, remains available for download. Google later removed two additional Chinese apps from its Play Store over accusations of exploiting user permissions for ad fraud purposes.

This type of information can be alarming. So how can you prevent companies from exploiting your weather data for their own gain?

One solution is to use weather apps from privacy-oriented search engines like Startpage. This search engine allows users to check the weather for any location without exposing their IP address or personal information. (For full transparency: Mytour's parent company, System1, has invested in Startpage.)

"For many, finding weather updates is as routine as browsing the internet. But weather apps often act like undercover spies. That's why we're thrilled to introduce Startpage's enhanced private weather feature with an eternal forecast: Sunny with no risk of surveillance!" said Robert E.G. Beens, CEO and founder of Startpage, in a press release. Weather searches on Startpage never store or share IP addresses or personal information.

Startpage has teamed up with Tomorrow.io to offer more detailed, real-time weather information.

"Tomorrow.io's leading-edge widgets offer a range of features, including air quality, pollutants, pollen, fire risk, multiple locations, and general weather summaries," said Dan Slagen, Chief Marketing Officer of Tomorrow.io, in the same release. "With weather and climate-related events becoming regular headlines, it’s more essential than ever to deliver highly localized and actionable forecasts to people around the world."

Alternatively, you can disable tracking on your current weather app. Go to Settings, find Apps, then select the weather app you’ve installed. Turn off any location-related settings. This will require you to manually enter weather details, but turning off location tracking will reduce the app’s data collection, though it won’t fully stop it, depending on the app's owner and other data they might have on you.