Zoom updates iOS app amid criticism, stops sharing data with Facebook

Video conferencing app Zoom saw a sudden spike in adoption as a large chunk of workforce moved to collaborate remotely during lockdown. But as more people began using the app, they came across several underlying facets of Zoom's privacy policy. Zoom uses a Facebook integration for login, which was also reportedly being used to share data with the social media company. A Motherboard analysis found that information such as when the app has been opened, time zone of the user, the city he resides in, and the details of his device were being shared with Facebook. Zoom has now issued an update to its iOS app to stop sending confidential and private data to Facebook.

In a post on Zoom's blog, CEO Eric S. Yuan said that the company came to know about the collection of unnecessary data by Facebook, after which the protocols and process for implementing such features were put under review. "Zoom takes its users' privacy extremely seriously. We would like to share a change that we have made regarding the use of Facebook's SDK. We originally implemented the Login with Facebook feature using the Facebook SDK for iOS (Software Development Kit) in order to provide our users with another convenient way to access our platform," said Yuan. " therefore we decided to remove the Facebook SDK in our iOS client. Users will need to update to the latest version of our application once it becomes available in order for these changes to take hold, and we encourage them to do so.," he added.

An SDK is a collection of code that developers inject into certain apps to introduce certain features, such as a login plugin. But SDKs may share some unsolicited and unallowed content with third parties. The Facebook SDK on Zoom's iOS app was pulling some personal data and sending it to the social media company, begging the important question of privacy breach. Zoom was primarily not clear about the privacy policy anyway, which is why its users were not in the know. After the analysis by Motherboard was published, Zoom has acknowledged the ambiguity in its privacy policy that may affect the users. According to Motherboard, Zoom was not clear about the data sharing with Facebook in its privacy policy but was, anyway, doing it. Yuan said no personal data was collected by Facebook but the device details.

Zoom, the video conferencing app that saw a monumental growth in adoption by volumes during the lockdowns in several countries to evade the further spread of coronavirus. Despite having a flurry of apps for video conferencing, Zoom emerged as the winner among users owing to the various features that give it an edge over the competition. It is suitable for web meetings, online collaborations between colleagues, and online sessions called 'breakout rooms'. You can read our guide on how you can effectively use Zoom and its various features.