Monday 09 / June / 2025
Muscat: The programming of a fitness app that revealed the location of sensitive sites such as military bases has been altered, after public outcry from users.
According to recent reports, the app had suspended operations after journalists from Bellingcat and Dutch journalism platform De Correspondent were able to locate the names and addresses of users who appeared to work for military and intelligence services. The journalists were able to locate Western military personnel in Afghanistan through the site. The app, according to the reporters, showed the soldier's runs in several bases as well as military exercises being held in New York state.
The company that made the app manufactures a number of smart devices such as a smart scale, smartwatch, and running watch which are all connected to the company's fitness app. The devices work in tandem to record the body weight and activity of a user, which can then be included in the app.
In a statement, the company said, "We made the decision to temporarily suspend the app in July 2018 when we learned that public location data shared by customers via a feature that could provide insight into potentially sensitive locations. We’d like to emphasise again that the app has not leaked any data, and there has been no breach of private data at any point."
