Abide

Warning: *Privacy Not Included with this product

Abide

Review date: April 20, 2022

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Mozilla says

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People voted: Very creepy

Abide is a Christian meditation app started by former Google employees back in 2013. This app offers Bible-based daily meditations, sleep stories, and podcasts included in a yearly subscription that costs around $40. The Abide app was recently purchased by the Christian publisher Guideposts, which we found out when we attempted to contact Abide for answers to our privacy related questions. The customer service representative who was unable to answer our questions seemed a bit frazzled by the merger. Hopefully things will settle down and the email listed in Abide's privacy policy for questions about their privacy practices will work better in the future. As for your privacy on Abide, well, their privacy policy is rather vague, so we're left with more questions.

What could happen if something goes wrong?

You know what privacy researchers really can't abide? Vague privacy policies like Abide's. Why would companies be vague about what personal information the collect and how they use it unless they want to have lots of wiggle room in their privacy policies to collect a lot of personal information and use it in ways that go beyond the scope of the product they provide? Is that what Abide does? Who knows, we just can't tell.

What kind of personal information does Abide say they can collect? Well, they're vague about that, of course. They say, "We collect certain personal information, like your name, picture, email address and any other information you provide to us," which doesn't tell us much. How do they say they use this information? Well, again, here they are vague. They say can use it for your standard business practices like providing information you request, sending emails, and facilitate the use of their services. Then they say they use the information they collect "for any other purpose for which the information was collected." Which, uh, that feels kinda broad and undefined, right?

Interestingly, the words "marketing" and "advertising" do not appear anywhere in Abide's privacy policy. Does that mean Abide doesn't use your data for those purposes? Hard to say. What Abide does say is they can use information they collect "for any other purpose for which the information was collected." which is a rather vague and confusing statement to us. Abide also doesn’t specifically state in their privacy policy that they don’t sell user data, which is something we like to see stated clearly. We can hope Abide makes their money through their subscriptions to the service and sharing their users' data for undefined purposes.. 🤞🏼 We just can't tell though.

Finally, Abide doesn't meet our Minimum Security Standards because we were able to login with the weak password "11111111". So, what could happen if something goes wrong? Well, would it be wrong of us to say we just don't know but we pray nothing bad ever happens? We do worry though, as other prayer apps like Pray.com have been reported to do a whole bunch of data profiteering on their users. We wish we could be sure Abide doesn't do the same, but we aren't sure of that at all.

Tips to protect yourself

Do not provide consent for sharing personal data with third parties, whenever possible.
Ensure you have a strong password! The app will not prompt you to do so.

  • mobile

Can it snoop on me? information

Camera

Device: N/A

App: No

Microphone

Device: N/A

App: No

Tracks location

Device: N/A

App: No

What can be used to sign up?

What data does the company collect?

How does the company use this data?

Abide doesn’t specifically state in their privacy policy that they don’t sell user data, which is something we like to see stated clearly.

It is also unclear to us, based on Abide's Privacy Policy, if they share personal information for marketing purpose. Abide says they can use the information collected through Abide "for any other purpose for which the information was collected." which is a rather vague statement.

Abide says they can share information with service providers who are working with us in connection with the operation of our site or our services, but they never clarify what those third parties services might being using your personal information for.

Abide may share aggregated information and non-identifiable information with third parties or partners for industry analysis, demographic profiling and other similar purposes;

Abide may share your personal information "when you give us your consent to do so, including if we notify you that the information you provide will be shared in a particular manner and you provide such information." This feels a bi broad and vague to us and we're not sure what this consent looks like so it a concern.

How can you control your data?

You may ask if Abide is processing personal information about you, request access to your personal information, and ask that they correct, amend or delete your personal information, by contacting [email protected].

No retention details are provided.

What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?

Average

No known privacy or security incidents discovered in the last 3 years.

Child Privacy Information

Abide's service is not directed to children under 13 and they do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Can this product be used offline?

Can’t Determine

User-friendly privacy information?

No

Links to privacy information

Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards? information

No

Encryption

Can’t Determine

Strong password

No

Allowed us to register with '11111111'. They require 8 characters minimum, but do not check if a password is strong.

Security updates

Yes

Manages vulnerabilities

Can’t Determine

Privacy policy

Yes

Does the product use AI? information

Can’t Determine

Is this AI untrustworthy?

Can’t Determine

What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?

Is the company transparent about how the AI works?

Can’t Determine

Does the user have control over the AI features?

Can’t Determine

*Privacy Not Included

Dive Deeper

  • Nothing Sacred: These Apps Reserve The Right To Sell Your Prayers
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