Responding to privacy concerns, AccuWeather is out with a new version of its iOS app that removes a controversial data sharing behavior. Earlier this week, security researcher Will Strafach called attention to the practice in a Medium post and users took to Twitter to announce their intention to dump the app in droves.
“AccuWeather’s app employed a Software Development Kit (SDK) from a third-party vendor (Reveal Mobile) that inadvertently allowed Wi-Fi router data to be transmitted to this third-party vendor,” the company wrote in a statement accompanying the app update. “Once we became aware of this situation we took immediate action to verify the operation and quickly disabled the SDK from the IOS app. Our next step was to update the IOS app and remove Reveal Mobile completely.”
For its part, AccuWeather responded quickly and decisively. The bit where it failed to disclose how it shared data with third parties aside, it’s a good example of a company owning its privacy screw up and correcting its mistake in clear, unambiguous language. AccuWeather maintains that neither it nor Reveal Mobile accessed the location data in question. If those reassurances are good enough for you, the updated AccuWeather 10.5.3 is available now in the App Store.