SwiftKey Typing App Found to be Leaking Users’ Email Address and Phone Numbers

[Maura]

The Telegraph reports that popular typing app SwiftKey has had to suspend part of its service after it was found to have been sending predictive text to users comprising email addresses and phone numbers from strangers.

One user found the bug when she installed SwiftKey on a new device and the app suggested that she used a stranger’s email address. Another user got predictions in a language that was not their usual language.

Following on from the discovery of the bug, SwiftKey moved, er, swiftly, to temporarily disable the way in which the app syncs on new devices.

“This week, a few of our customers noticed unexpected predictions where unfamiliar terms, and in some rare cases emails, appeared when using their mobile phone,” said a spokesperson for SwiftKey. “We are working quickly to resolve this inconvenience.

“We have turned off the cloud sync service and are updating our applications to remove email address prediction. During this time, it will not be possible to back up your SwiftKey language model.”

SwiftKey also reassured customers that the app would be “okay to use” apart from this one suspended feature, and that their personal data would not be lost.

Source: SwiftKey app leaked users' email addresses and phone numbers to strangers