For instance, Venmo, a popular peer-to-peer payment app for iPhone and Android users, lets users send and receive money from anyone with a Venmo account. It is particularly convenient when dealing with transactions that involve multiple people or groups, such as splitting bills.
However, mobile payment apps like Venmo present unique challenges. They combine financial transactions with social media, a blend that can significantly increase privacy risk , especially when coupled with often-ambiguous privacy settings .
Privacy settings in many apps can often make end users more vulnerable to data exposure despite being presented as enabling privacy. These apps intentionally come with complicated default privacy settings that paradoxically make the user's information more public than private.
Users are often unaware of the additional steps needed for the best privacy settings. Understanding an app's complex privacy policy may require examining the fine print of each app's policy.
But Venmo is not alone in this. Apple released an app called Journal in late December 2023. Journal helps iPhone users write journal entries about their thoughts and feelings. These journal entries can include photos, videos, cities you visited and other personal activities. The app also uses an on-device artificial intelligence feature to provide personalised suggestions on topics relevant to the user.
