tracking attempts in the zulip app for android

Stream: Zulip meta

[Bulhwi Cha]

After enabling DuckDuckGo's App Tracking Protection on my Android phone, I realized that there had been attempts to collect the following data in the Zulip app:

Screenshot_20240724_002141_DuckDuckGo.jpg

Text in the screenshot

Zulip
4m ago

BLOCKED 43 TRACKING ATTEMPTS

Functional Software
43 attempts. Known to collect:

• Device Orientation
• Device Name
• Charging Status
• Device Total Memory
• Network Connection Type
• CPU Data
• Device Boot Time
• OS Version
• Available Device Memory
• Unique Identifier
• Device Brand
• OS Build Number
• Country
• Timezone
• Device Model
• App Version
• Screen Density
• Device Language
• Screen Resolution
• App Name
• Internal Storage
• Battery Level

Apps may include trackers from other companies for things like analytics and marketing. If we didn't block them, these trackers could create even more detailed digital profiles on you. Learn more.

[Bulhwi Cha]

I wonder if it's possible to create a Zulip client that doesn't include trackers. I couldn't upload the screenshot when I enabled App Tracking Protection.

[Alya Abbott]

Those values are read by our error-reporting tool, Sentry, to help us investigate and fix device-dependent errors encountered using the app. We don't use them to create profiles on anyone, or for any kind of marketing.

[Bulhwi Cha]

I see. Sometimes, I can't receive new messages when I enable App Tracking Protection. Is there a way for a user to prevent Sentry from collecting information about my Android device and the country where I'm using it without having issues with the Zulip app?

[Alex Vandiver]

We also do not, practically, make use of anything on that list except device brand and OS version (some bugs are OS-specific), and maaaaybe screen resolution/density (for rendering bugs).

I don't see anything in Sentry's docs at quick glance to explicitly disable the subsystems that collect more, but we can ask them about how we can disable that collection. I would also prefer that we not collect it, since we're not using it.

[Alya Abbott]

We don't why DuckDuckGo's tool causes the problems with receiving messages that you mention -- it seems like it must be interfering with the app's basic functioning in some way. Sentry isn't involved in receiving new messages.