63 percent of consumers deleted apps due to privacy concerns and consumers will leave brands with apps that do not protect their privacy, according to the 2019 Deloitte Australian Privacy Index 2019. 

It is no surprise that as data breaches are increasing, customers are taking an active approach in protecting their data. 

Key Findings 

When downloading an app:

  • 65 percent of consumers cited trust in a brand as their #1 consideration when deciding to grant an app permission to access personal information. This means brands must be transparent about how they will use personal information.
  • 52 percent of consumers have used privacy enhancing applications such as VPNs, browsers with private browsing mode, or encrypted messaging apps to enhance the privacy settings over those available on their handset.
  • 89 percent of control of consumers have at some point denied an app access to their location, photos, and contacts, or features such as their mobile device’s camera or microphone, due to privacy concerns, which reduces the effectiveness of an app to deliver its best product or service.

When using an app:

  • 46 percent of consumers are likely to provide false personal information when engaging with an app because of privacy, so hindering the accuracy and usefulness of data collected by brands.  
  • 59 percent of apps allow consumers to partially opt out of the collection of their data, suggesting that brands are beginning to recognize the need to provide consumers with greater transparency and some form of control.
  • 78 percent  of brand apps provide users with access to a privacy policy or information about their privacy practices within their application. of organizations have indicated that users have the ability to delete, or request their personal information be deleted. 
  • Only 21 percent of organizations have indicated that users have the ability to delete, or request their personal information be deleted. 

The most trusted brands:

  • 31 percentof consumers named Information Technology brands in their most trusted brands. The combined results of our Index also rated Information Technology as the top performing sector, which indicates a growing consumer awareness of, and ability to discern, good privacy practice.
  • 73 percent of consumers are customers of the brand they trust the most with their personal information.
  • 38 percent of those said they were customers of those brands because of their privacy practices

The least trusted brands:

  • 49 percent of consumers trusted Telecommunications and Media (including social media) brands the least. Social media brands were the most significant contributor to the least trusted Telco and Media sector status. 
  • 38 percent of consumers revealed they used the brand apps they trusted the least, but said they would cease using that app if there was a better alternative, specifically due to their poor privacy practices.