Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus is tweaking its data collection after researchers noticed the handsets were hoovering up "quite a bit of information".
British researcher Chris Moore noted that earlier this month, after his own tests revealed OnePlus was nabbing phones' IMEI identifying numbers, MAC addresses, mobile network and more, including phone numbers. "Wow, that's quite a bit of information about my device, even more of which can be tied directly back to me by OnePlus and other entities," he noted in a post.
Moore added there appears to be no way to halt the data slurp, short of removing the OnePlus Device Manager. "This kind of data collection, especially one containing information that can be directly tied back to me as an individual, should really be opt-in and/or have an easily accessible off switch," he noted.
Following Moore's report, OnePlus decided it agreed and will ask users to opt-out before the end of the month you'll be asked if you want to join the "user experience programme", according to a post by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. You'll be able to opt out at any time in Settings under Advanced. "If you opt out of the user experience program, your usage analytics will not be tied to your device information," Pei added.
Peo also said OnePlus will no longer collect phone numbers, MAC addresses, or Wi-Fi information.
Pei explained that the information was collected to provide better after-sales support and optimise the user experience of OnePlus OxygenOS. "We take privacy very seriously and do not share analytics with third parties. Our intention has always been to better serve our users."
OnePlus' privacy blunder isn't the first centred on how companies use personal data with the claimed purpose of improving user experience, with Microsoft criticised for its collection of telemetry data in Windows 10.
