Smart Safety: Couple Apps

When exhausted couples struggle to maintain intimacy, technology comes to the rescue.  The market now offers apps helping couples to spice things up with thoughtful tips and platforms for intimate conversations. For example, Kindu offers a “Show and Tell” feature that allows couples to flirt and share intimate photos. If that’s not enough, the Couple app has a feature that makes both phones vibrate simultaneously when touched in the same spot. And some apps let you know when your female partner is on her period.

While some users are enthusiastic about the service, others speak of it critically: “Imagine your partner asking you how you feel just because an app told them to,” says Linda Allen, editor at mscareergirl.com.

Cybersecurity experts are also less than thrilled. “Those who use such apps, especially people in a long-distance relationship, expect all of their conversations to stay private. However, whoever gets hold of an account can access sexually explicit photo and video files,” says Daniel Markuson, digital privacy expert at NordVPN.

What exactly is wrong with couple apps?

“Almost everything,” you may think. The digital privacy expert agrees: “Whenever you plan to trust technology with explicit content, check the privacy policies first.”

Most apps in the couples category, including Avocado, Between, and Kindu, disclose user information to third parties if the user pre-agrees to it. “Sadly, 87% of people “sometimes” or “always” accept  privacy policies without even reading them first. That means users might be unaware that their data is being shared with third parties. Developers of apps have no access, control, or liability over data that has already been shared with third parties,” says Daniel Markuson.

“Third parties are often responsible for data leaks of the highest significance. In 2020, police departments, MU Health, and the Bank of America had their user data leaked because of third-party involvement,” the expert adds.

Sensitive content and the possibility to link at least two accounts at the same time attracts hackers to relationship and dating apps like bees to honey . When  apps3somes, Cougary, Gay Daddy Bear, Xpal, BBW Dating, Casualx, SugarD, Herpes Dating, and GHunt were breached this year, identifiable information like names and email addresses were disclosed together with sexually explicit photos, audio recordings, and real-time location.

How to work on your relationship without jeopardizing your privacy

• Read the privacy statement and grant access only to those features the app can’t function without.
• Make sure end-to-end encryption is used for communication. This will guarantee that only the sender and recipient can view messages. Neither the app’s developers nor hackers can intercept or decrypt them.
• Disable screen recording and screenshotting.  To prevent someone from taking a screenshot or recording of the photo or video you’ve sent, make sure the app you are using disables recording or screenshotting of the screen. Also, make sure messages are set to disappear after they are read.
• Create a unique anonymous username and email address for the account. All personal user data is attached to the username. Ideally, the username should not be linked to the real person behind the account. Do not use your name, your email, or commonly used username.
• Remove EXIF data embedded into the image files before sending. EXIF data includes geolocation (if enabled), precise date/time the photo was taken, and a host of technical information. It should be wiped out to make it difficult to link with the owner.

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