Published on September 3rd, 2018 | by Sunit Nandi

Is It Safe To Install Online Dating Apps

Searching for life partner online has been a practice that has been prevalent for the past many decades. The internet has made this possible. Today we are a step further towards convenience and flexibility as we integrate dating with the smart phones. Yes, we are talking about dating apps which are becoming hugely popular amongst millions of men and women across all ages in the country and also across the world. We see millions of men and women irrespective of ages downloading different dating apps in search of their boyfriends or girl friends. It would not be wrong to mention that these apps are now becoming an integral part of many of our daily lives. In their pursuit to find the right partner, people are ready to divulge their names, occupations, place of work, contact details, places where they hang out and other such important details. Hence it would not be out of place to mention here that these apps are used to share extremely sensitive and personal information. Quite a few times, even nude photos are shared by the users in their quest to titillate the opposite sex and then find the right mate. Now the question that comes to our mind is whether we are doing the right thing by sharing such intimate and very personal data, information, images, and videos. Let us therefore try and find out the safety aspects and perhaps also the risks associated with such adult dating apps if there are any such risks.

You Could Put Your Details At Risk

There are some research studies to prove that many of the apps that are considered popular and safe may not exactly be so. There are many apps which allow anybody to have a look at the user’s place of work or study. Using this information it does not take much of an effort to know more about their social media presence and find out their real names and other details. Many of these dating applications use the Facebook account for the exchange of data in the server. Hence in such applications finding out more about the personal details should not be a big problem.

Is Your Location Safe

You might be under the impression that your location and whereabouts are safe. However, this may not be the case. There are many apps which might be lending a helping hand to some notorious element to find out and zero in on your whereabouts. Not many dating applications take the trouble of keeping your location data safe and under lock and key. Most applications mention the distance between you and the person you are interested in. With some effort, if somebody wants to find out your actual location, it should not be a big problem. Hence, you must do your research and be associated only with those apps which take the trouble of protecting your location data safely and securely.

Is Your Data Protection Safely Done

It also would be pertinent to mention that most dating applications are known to transfer data to the servers using SSL encrypted channel. However, this may not always be the case, and there could be some exceptions to this rule. There are a few dating sites which you insecure methods of data transfers. The data that is used in Android operating systems may not exactly be encrypted, and the same is the case for some iOS data which are moved from one place to another. Due to the lack of data protection, the data is not only viewable but it also is possible to modify the data, and this certainly is shocking stuff. Simple messages like “How are our doing” could be turned into “Please send me some money.”

How To Overcome It

Given the inherent risks and problems associated with such apps, the onus lies on the end users to do some research and then decide as to which is the best dating app. You must not compromise on data safety and safety of privacy at any cost. Yes, such apps might come with a higher price tag attached to it, but this is too small a price to pay compared to the huge risk of data theft and other such unwanted things.

Tags: dating, install, online, safe

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.