![55.2% of Apps Share Data With Third Parties [2026]](/_astro/how-many-apps-share-data-with-third-parties.BiGKvSa2_ZCA70V.webp)
55.2% of the top 1,000 apps on the Google Play Store, just over half, share user data with third parties, according to Incogni's 2026 analysis of each app's own Google Play Data Safety disclosure. That overall rate hides sharp differences by category: school-recommended apps share student data almost universally, while popular children's apps and paid apps share far less than average. The gap between categories matters more for compliance than the topline number, because regulators and app store reviewers check what a specific app discloses, not the market average.
How many apps share data with third parties?
55.2% of the top 1,000 free and paid apps on Google Play share user data with third parties, based on each app's own Data Safety section, according to Incogni's 2026 review of the store's mandatory disclosure labels. Of the apps that do not share data, more than two-thirds are paid apps rather than free ones, a pattern that shows up again once free and paid apps are compared directly later in this post.
Figure 1: Just over half of the most-downloaded apps on Google Play share user data externally. Source: Incogni, "Sharing is NOT caring" Google Play analysis, 2026 (n=1,000 apps).
Data Safety disclosures cover more than a simple yes or no. Each label lists which categories of information an app collects, whether that information is shared, and whether it is used for advertising, analytics, or app functionality, which is why category-level differences below tell a more useful story than the single 55.2% headline figure on its own.
Which app categories share the most data?
Social media apps disclosed the most data of any sector, sharing 45 distinct data types across the 10 apps sampled, according to KnownHost's October 2024 analysis of privacy labels for 60 top-rated apps spread across 12 sectors on the U.S. Apple App Store. Entertainment apps ranked second at 38 data types, and photo and video apps ranked third at 31.
Figure 2: Social media apps disclose more than 10 times the data volume of finance apps in the same sample. Source: KnownHost analysis of Apple App Store privacy labels, October 2024 (n=60 apps, 12 sectors).
Usage data, the events a person generates inside an app such as session length and how often it is opened, was the single most common data type shared, appearing in 51 of the 60 apps sampled. Finance apps sat at the opposite end of the ranking, sharing far less than social or entertainment apps, and KnownHost's analysis found social media apps shared over 10 times the data volume finance apps did. That gap tracks a separate finding from NordVPN's mobile app research, covered in our mobile app privacy statistics, that social networking apps also request the most Android permissions of any category audited.
Do free apps share more data than paid apps?
Yes. Free apps share about 7 times more data points than paid apps in the same category, and apps with more than 500,000 downloads share roughly 6.15 times more data points than less-downloaded apps, according to Incogni's 2026 review of the top 1,000 Google Play apps. Both gaps point to the same underlying driver: apps that monetize through advertising rather than a purchase price have a direct incentive to collect and pass along more data.
Figure 3: Free, widely-downloaded apps share far more data than paid or niche apps. Source: Incogni, "Sharing is NOT caring" Google Play analysis, 2026 (n=1,000 apps).
Among apps that do share data at all, popularity widens the gap further: an app that has already crossed 500,000 downloads has less incentive to limit data collection, since a large existing user base gives advertisers a bigger, more valuable dataset to buy access to. A business publishing its own app should treat "free" and "ad-supported" as the two variables most likely to trigger a data-sharing disclosure requirement, not app category alone.
How does data sharing differ for children's and school apps?
96% of K-12 apps recommended by schools shared student data with third parties, across a sample of 1,357 apps assessed out of 1,722 recommended across 663 U.S. schools, according to Internet Safety Labs' K-12 EdTech Safety Benchmark. Of the apps that shared data, 78% did so with advertising and data analytics entities specifically, often without a clear consent step for the student or parent involved.
That figure sits well above the 55.2% general-market rate and stands in contrast to a narrower, more recent dataset: Incogni's separate 2026 review of 74 popular children's Android apps across 59 countries found that only 28% actively shared collected data with third parties, even though 46% of the same sample collected some user data in the first place. The two figures are not contradictory. Internet Safety Labs measured school-assigned classroom and administrative software, where third-party analytics and ad SDKs are common, while Incogni's smaller sample measured consumer-facing children's apps downloaded directly from an app store, a category more likely to face App Tracking Transparency and children's-privacy scrutiny at launch.
One-sentence takeaway: school-assigned apps share student data far more often than consumer children's apps, which makes the disclosure gap in education technology the larger compliance risk of the two.
How is app data sharing regulated?
Whether a business needs to disclose third-party data sharing in its privacy policy, and whether it needs to offer an opt-out, depends on a short chain of legal tests rather than a single blanket rule.
Figure 4: The test most U.S. state privacy laws apply before requiring an opt-out for shared data. Source: CCPA/CPRA statutory text, as summarized in industry compliance guidance.
Most of the sharing measured across these studies, ad SDKs receiving usage data and identifiers, falls squarely into the branch that requires a clear recipient disclosure at minimum, and an opt-out link wherever a state law's sale or share definition is met. A privacy policy generator built to disclose every third-party data recipient keeps that chain current as SDKs and ad partners change, which is the first thing app store reviewers and state regulators check against an app's actual behavior.
How has app data sharing evolved since 2018?
Figure 5: Mandatory disclosure requirements arrived years after third-party tracking was already widespread. Source: Oxford Internet Institute (2018), Apple, Google, Internet Safety Labs, KnownHost, Incogni.
Disclosure rules did not create the underlying data flows; they made them visible. The 2018 Oxford Internet Institute study, based on 959,000 Google Play apps, found that most already contained third-party trackers years before Apple and Google required any public label describing what those trackers received, and the study singled out news apps and apps aimed at children as carrying an outsized share of trackers even then.
Which categories share the most data at a glance?
| Category | Share that share data | Sample size | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| K-12 school-recommended apps | 96% | 1,357 apps | Internet Safety Labs, 2022 |
| Budgeting apps | 60% | 20 apps | Incogni, 2026 |
| Google Play top 1,000 apps (overall) | 55.2% | 1,000 apps | Incogni, 2026 |
| Popular children's Android apps | 28% | 74 apps | Incogni, 2026 |
The overall 55.2% figure is closer to a floor than a ceiling once a specific category is singled out. School and education technology sits at nearly double the general rate, while apps built and marketed specifically for children, at least among the popular titles Incogni sampled, sit well below it.
The Bottom Line
55.2% of the top apps on Google Play share user data with third parties, but that single number describes an average across categories that behave very differently. School-recommended apps share student data in 96% of cases, free apps share roughly 7 times more data than paid ones, and social media apps disclose more than 10 times the data volume of finance apps in the same sample. For any business publishing an app, the practical question is not whether the market average applies, but whether the app's own SDKs, ad partners, and analytics tools are named accurately in its privacy policy and Data Safety label, since both regulators and app store reviewers check the app's actual behavior against that specific document rather than an industry benchmark.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many apps share data with third parties? 55.2% of the top 1,000 apps on the Google Play Store, just over half, share user data with third parties, according to Incogni's 2026 analysis of each app's own Google Play Data Safety disclosure.
Which type of app shares the most data with third parties? Social media apps share the most, disclosing 45 distinct data types across the 10 apps sampled, more than 10 times the volume disclosed by finance apps in the same study, according to KnownHost's October 2024 analysis of Apple App Store privacy labels.
Do free apps share more data than paid apps? Yes. Free apps share about 7 times more data points than paid apps in the same category, per Incogni's 2026 Google Play analysis of the top 1,000 free and paid apps.
How many school apps share student data with third parties? 96% of 1,357 K-12 apps recommended by schools shared student data with third parties, according to Internet Safety Labs' K-12 EdTech Safety Benchmark, with 78% of those sharing specifically with advertising and analytics entities.
Where the Numbers Come From
- Incogni. (2026). "Sharing is NOT caring: Android apps that can't get enough of you." Analysis of the top 1,000 free and paid apps on Google Play, based on each app's Data Safety disclosure.
- Incogni. (2026). "Good for your wallet but not for your privacy." Analysis of 20 popular budgeting apps on Google Play.
- Incogni. (2026). "1 in 2 popular apps collect data: an in-depth analysis of data collection in children's Android apps." n=74 apps across 59 countries.
- GovTech, reporting on Internet Safety Labs' "K-12 EdTech Safety Benchmark: National Findings." 1,357 apps assessed of 1,722 recommended, published December 2022.
- KnownHost. (2024). "Which App Sectors Share the Most Data with Third Parties?" Analysis of 60 apps across 12 sectors on the U.S. Apple App Store, published October 15, 2024.
- Binns et al., University of Oxford. (2018). "Third Party Tracking in the Mobile Ecosystem." Study of 959,000 apps from the U.S. and UK Google Play stores.
Note: All figures verified as of September 2026. Incogni's Google Play data-sharing figures reflect app disclosures collected under Google's Data Safety requirement and are refreshed at least twice a year as new report editions publish. The Internet Safety Labs and Oxford Internet Institute figures reflect fixed study periods and are cited as historical benchmarks rather than live figures.
