Researchers had claimed Pixel phones share location, network status, and other information with Google
Google has denied claims that Pixel phones provide the company with private user data such as location, network status, phone number, and app list every 15 minutes.
Cybernews published a report containing these allegations on October 9, citing its own research team’s findings as evidence. In short, the report claims that Pixel phones share a substantial amount of personal data with Google at regular intervals, sometimes with services the user has not consented to using, and that the phone independently looks for new code to run, suggesting some degree of remote control is possible.
Google has since responded, saying that some data sharing is necessary for the provision of services by any phone company, and that the report “lacks crucial context” and misinterprets technical information.Google Pixel data sharing claims
The Cybernews report claims that Pixel phones share personally identifiable information like the user’s email address, location, and phone number with several different Google endpoints, such as Face Grouping, Device Management, and Policy Enforcement.
Researchers made the claims after running a series of tests with the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL, using a proxy to intercept inbound and outbound network traffic, though this traffic was technically incomplete as rooting the phone disables AI and some other features.
