6 Popular Dating Apps Found To Have Privacy Bugs Exposing Users' Locations
The bug can expose your approximate location through a technique called trilateration.
By Sukhbir Cheema — 02 Aug 2024, 12:22 PM
Bumble, Hinge, Happn, Grindr, Badoo, and Hily have been found to house a privacy bug that can expose users' approximate location
According to engadget, Belgium researchers from the country's KU Leuven University found that the bug exposes users' approximate location using the trilateration technique.
Trilateration is a GPS-powered technique that measures distances from known points and locations to determine a person's location.
The research paper exposed how dating apps can take advantage of the trilateration technique.
Grindr, according to the researchers, was the most vulnerable as it was able to pinpoint users' exact location
The researchers were able to reach "exact distance trilateration" that showed a user's location within a 111 x 111m area. This method uses precisely measured distances from multiple points like satellites to calculate the exact location, with no rounding or simplification.
Meanwhile, the researchers categorised Happn under "rounded distance trilateration". Approximated or simplified distances are used for this method to determine location, making calculations easier but slightly less accurate.
On the other hand, Hinge, Bumble, Badoo, and Hily were categorised under "oracle trilateration". This is an error-free method to measure distances to determine location.
GPS uses signals from satellites to calculate distances and determines your location by finding where these distances overlap, even if the distances are rounded for simplicity. In other words, all six apps were capable of revealing the users' locations to some extent.
The researchers warned that stalkers can take advantage of oracle trilateration to pinpoint a target's location within 2m by shifting their positions and triangulating the gathered data
This means that they can closely track their victims by using profile images and nearby photos.
All six dating apps claimed that they have either addressed the issue or downplayed its severity.
Bumble, for instance, said that it had resolved the issue with its distance filter in 2023. Hily, on the other hand, said exploiting the app was impractical. Happn states that the app comes with additional security layers that were not accounted for in the research.
Meanwhile, Grindr said that users have the option to toggle their profile locations on or off. Hinge has yet to comment on the matter.
