> Why do you tie my flight searches with my UDID and submit it to third parties like flurry?
We collect the following data points via a single third party tool, namely Flurry. There aren't any others, aside from the obvious booking partners who book your flight at the end of the process.
- How long is the import process
- What tasks throw exceptions or otherwise crash the application
- Which cities are most chosen
- How far into the future do users most often search
- Do people bother with flights displayed lower on the screen
- Do people bother with the alternate booking mechanisms we made
This is useful to both confirm initial hunches on how the app's UX should work and helps direct modifications and enhancements in future versions. Flurry collects UDIDs for a promotional program they do for app discovery but Hipmunk doesn't participate in that.
Can you use their tool without submitting my UDID? If not, can I opt out (other than by not using the app)? I like your app, but that is essentially a tracking supercookie.
Actually if I am not mistaken, it is against the app store TOS to submit a UDID to a third party without the user's consent. Apps that use Flurry's agent in particular took heat from Apple for this. This is basically spyware.
Really, there is no reason to track activity by UDID for booking a flight.
I am not trying to troll here - I actually love your website. But I really hate spyware!
For your other uses, most reputable apps ask the user if they would like to participate in a customer feedback program, and inform them what will be collected, and allow them to opt out.
