Ola, Uber most data-hungry taxi apps in India, Rapido least: Report

Ride-hailing apps like Uber, Ola and Rapido collect extensive information about their users, and around 30 per cent of them use this data for "third-party advertising," according to a study conducted by cybersecurity company Surfshark.

Surfshark's data sensitivity index, which shows what type of data ride-hailing apps collect, ranked GrabTaxi, Yandex Go and Uber as the most data-hungry taxi apps in the world. Homegrown ride-sharing app Ola stood at sixth place.

Bengaluru-based Rapido collects almost ten times less data than the leading GrabTaxi app and uses only user name, phone number, and location to deliver its services, the research showed.

"The index researched data collection practices of the 30 most known ride-hailing apps from the Apple Store and measured how much data the apps collect in three main pillars: 1) data that is not linked to a user's identity (such as app crash data); 2) data that could be linked to a user's identity (such as name); 3) data that could track users across apps and websites (such as user ID)," Surfshark said in a release.

GrabTaxi collects 27 out of 32 possible data points listed by Apple. These data points include details like contact, financial, location information, and user content, the study showed. Meanwhile, Yandex Go, which is mostly operated in Central Asia and countries like Russia, was second on the list, followed by the world’s most popular ride-hailing app Uber.

Uber, together with Lyft (ranked 7th), is the only ride-hailing app that collects sensitive user information such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, childbirth information, and even biometric data, it said.

TaxiEU was at the penultimate position, before Rapido, in the index. It additionally collects some analytics data to improve services like crash, performance, usage, product interaction, and similar data.

The third least data-hungry taxi app is French-based transportation service LeCab, which aside from app functionality and analytics data, also requires a physical address, precise location, and email address, according to the study.

Commenting on the findings of the study, Surfshark CEO Vytautas Kaziukonis said, "Many people today are willing to trade privacy for comfort and share their personal information in exchange for a service. By doing so, people leave digital footprints everywhere they go, including their personal details, physical addresses, and even the links they click on."

Besides, he said, some apps share users’ personal information with third parties for marketing purposes. For instance, the study showed that 9 out of 30 analyzed ride-hailing apps use collected data for "third-party advertising, Kaziukonis added.