Why is the App Store on my iphone showing my purchases with my friend's Facebook profile picture

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Level 1

6 points

Why is the App Store on my iphone showing my purchases with my friend's Facebook profile picture

Hi, so this is a weird one and I'm really concerned about my privacy here. Why does apple even retrieve a Facebook profile picture to put next the my purchases?

Here's the problem: on my iphone5, IOS9.1, I click on "App Store" then I click on the "updates" (bottom right of the screen) then I click on purchases (well, on my iphone5 it says "Achats" because my IOS interface is in French). The next screen that shows up says "Mes achats" (my purchases) ALONG WITH A PROFILE PICTURE THAT IS NOT MINE!!! In fact, I know exactly who's picture it is: it's the picture of one of my friends on Facebook that has the same name as me. Well, truth be told, I'm not using my real name on Facebook (sue me). So, somewhere in the iphone IOS code, it goes to Facebook and retrieves the profile picture of my icloud "firstName lastName". And then, it does find someone with that "firstName lastname" which, it turns out, I have a friend that has eactly my real name (and that person is not me).

So, is that even ok for apple to do? Now apple digs on my facebook data to retrieve a profile picture of someone that has my firstName lastName??!? Even if tha tprofile is not mine!!?

So, what else is apple getting from my Facebook account? And why is your logic to try and find a record that matches my name, what is the logic is getting the first name that matches in my friends? So, if my name were John Simpson, you'd pick up the first profile tied to my FB account that might have that name (who cares if it's not me)? what other bugs are in the code? Where else are you doing a list.get(0) ?

Not surprised IOS9 is a mess. IOS9.1 is a little better; with IOS9 I got back my ability to use my iphone to answer calls again (yes, really, the phone would ring, call from the hospital, I'd hit answer like crazy and it was just hanging, it's a PHONE first people!!). But still freezing. And the battery still drains in less than 8 hours. Plus these other weird things. And why can't I un-install the stupid podcast application, it's just a piece of junk software (well, that will be a separate thread).

Pierre

iPhone 5, iOS 9.1

Posted on Nov 6, 2015 11:26 AM

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Answer 1

Applboi

Level 1

4 points

Sep 26, 2017 5:25 AM in response to pgangloff

I have the exact same problem, and it seems I cannot find a solution for this problem online.

Please let me know if this is a security issue. And how to fix it.

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Answer 2

Nov 6, 2015 12:16 PM in response to pgangloff

IF you are signed into Facebook in the settings app on iOS it will sync Facebook pictures with your contacts. IT pops up and says this when you log In. If you don't want it to do this go to Facebook in the settings app and turn off Contacts.

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Answer 3

pgangloff Author

Level 1

6 points

Nov 6, 2015 1:19 PM in response to iComputerGeek101

yes, I have un-installed the Facebook app and its messenger app since then, I sure am not re-installing either of those given their other "keep microphone on" thing to keep the app running in the background which, in turn, was draining my battery. It's one thing to impact Facebook contacts into the Contacts app (very useful). But it's another thing to trust data coming from Facebook and make assumptions about that data to think that they're mine. It's NOT ok to merge my icloud data with facebook data and then get it wrong (they tie someone ELSE's facebook profile with MY app store profile!!!).

In the Contacts app, when I first start it up, I do see MY facebook profile picture and MY facebook "fake name" (all is well in the Contacts app, it knows who I am from MY facebook profile). So, NO ISSUES in the CONTACTS app.

But when I go to the "App Store" app and check on "My purchases", I see someone else's picture (he is a friend of mine on Facebook and, incidentally, he has my real name). So, the code in the "App Store" application decided to look for a profile picture which is not the same as the one used in Contacts (sure, it's fine to have 2 apps have different logic to retrieve my name and picture, as long as the logic works). In "App Store", the logic is obviously different... It picks up the wrong picture (and probably also other wrong data fields) because it's likely trying to find the Facebook profile that matches my icloud name (which is my REAL name).

In reality, I'd say the bug fix is to either update icloud so that we can setup our picture there. Because icloud has my address, my real name, my credit card info (including real name, my real age and real address for CC verification, etc). I don't know why the "App Store" app would want to trust anything coming from Facebook. It's quite concerning that the app store mixes those 2 things together. And, in fact, apple developers got the code wrong by mixing up my icloud identity (my purchases) with the identity of a FB friend. What else could this trigger? I'm in Canada and that friend lives in France. Could that explain why I can't buy so many apps? It thinks I'm in France? What else is this funny logic triggering? The "App Store" should be bullet proof. That's where we make purchases. They already have all my VERIFIED DATA. Why would they mix in junk data coming from Facebook? Anyone who has half a concern for privacy doesn't put their real birthdate on facebook. I chose to go some extra steps by not putting my full real name and other sensitive information (call me paranoid but it's my choice). I chose to make it hard on identity thiefs. Apple should NOT trust what it gets from Facebook. Especially not in the AppStore!

This happens since IOS9 (9.01 and 9.02 included), and still happens in IOS9.1.

Pierre

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