Cellphone users concerned over app privacy

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WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- More than half of U.S. mobile device users have uninstalled or avoided certain apps, worried how the app collects or shares information, a survey found.

A survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that of the 88 percent of U.S. adults who own cellphones, 43 percent said they download cellphone applications.

However, of those app users, 54 percent reported deciding against installing an app once they learned the extent of the personal information they would be sharing when using the app, Pew reported Wednesday.

And 30 percent said they had uninstalled an app they had already downloaded and installed when they learned it was collecting types of personal information they didn't want shared.

Overall, 57 percent of all app users have either uninstalled an app or declined to install an app in the first place out of concern about having to share personal information, Pew said.

The survey of 2,254 adults was conducted between March 15 and April 3, with a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.