A writer used Gemini to check what her Android apps store about her

A tech writer let Google's Gemini AI help her look inside her Android apps, and one popular downloader stood out. Irene Okpanachi of Android Police reported that Snaptube, an app installed outside the Play Store, asked for several high-risk permissions and carried code from six ad and tracking companies.

What she found

Snaptube is a media downloader that was removed from the Play Store, so it has to be installed by hand, a practice called sideloading. Okpanachi took the app apart and read its settings file. It allows unencrypted web traffic, which means data can travel without protection. It also has background services that restart tasks after they are shut down. Some parts of the app start when the phone boots, unlocks or charges.

The app also contains ad and analytics software from ByteDance, InMobi, Mintegral, Vungle, SensorsData and Meta.

How she did it

Android keeps each app's files in a protected area. Okpanachi connected her phone to a PC by USB, turned on USB debugging in Developer options, and used Google's free Android tools to copy app files over. She read them in Visual Studio Code, a free code editor.

Snaptube blocked that route with a "package not debuggable" error. She got around it without rooting the phone by unpacking the app file and reading its manifest, the list of what an app asks for. Pasting her results into Gemini saved her two to four hours of sorting through obscure files, she wrote.

What to do

The full audit takes technical skill. The first check is simple. On the Play Store, open an app's page, find About this app, scroll to the bottom and tap See more next to App permissions. The Play Store lists permissions but does not explain which are risky.

• Ask whether each permission fits the app's main job.
• A messaging app can reasonably want contacts and the microphone.
• A flashlight app has no good reason to ask for either.
• A wallpaper app has no business asking to see all your installed apps.

Okpanachi notes that since Android 11, apps no longer need broad permission to inspect a whole device. They are supposed to ask only about the specific apps they work with.

What is not clear

The available text does not list every permission Snaptube requested. It also does not say what Gemini found in the other apps she checked, or whether the Snaptube trackers collect personal data.