Is the Google play install referrer tracker bad? I installed an app called Filen (a cloud service) and it has this weird tracker that i have not seen in any other app. I scanned the app with classy shark. MEANWHILE Exodus website says the app has 0 trackers. What is the truth? !
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You can always use TrackerControl.
TrackerControl tracks and can block all trackers or any app. Of course you do want to enable the essential trackers, that allow the app to work. Normally the 2 categories I enable are ‘Essential’ and ‘Uncategorized’. However you can enable the specific trackers you need to run the app as well. That can take more time. Keep in mind Tracker control does this for all apps on your phone. I find it to be well worth your time.
Thanks, but this requried the vpn slot and i have a vpn already. Do you think this tracker is a risk? What could a tracker possibliy do in the worst case scenario?
No tracker is always better than one tracker. If you want to avoid trackers, you simply have 2 options - opting for another app/service or using a tool as TrackerControl. But in the latter case you usually need to access to the VPN slot.
I needed to check myself, never heard about Play Store referrer - but it seems to share little and limited use information. (https://mobikul.com/google-play-install-referrer/) In the end it is up to you to decide whether this is acceptable to you or not.
P.S. After what I heard, usually the information provided by ClassyShark are a bit more reliable than those from ExodusPrivacy.
Some VPN services (like ProtonVPN for example) have an ad-blocker built in that can block trackers.
I use IVPN. Their built in ad-blocker has hardmode which blocks all Google and Facebook domains 
Cool. Also using that with Hardcore AntiTracker on my daily driver. Nothing ever makes it out to Google which is good and bad (Firefox sync uses Google sadly).
EDIT: According to App Manager, Filen definitely has zero (in-app) trackers. Aurora Store does say it requires Google Framework but in what capacity I don’t know.
A big maybe is app verification? Probably not.
@Diana A good 80% of apps use trackers. Many of them are needed for the app to work. Some are annoying too. The best thing you can do it do some research on the tracker in question. Most trackers are developed by the app companies or 3rd party. What’s the name of the tracker in question?
@Diana This maybe worth a look.
What is the use of Google Play Referrer API?
Google Play Referrer API provides us information from where our app has been installed whether it may be play store or any other platform. With the help of this API, we can track the actions which are taken by the user to download our App. Below are some of the important data which we can gather using this API.
With the help of this API, we can track from where the user has installed our application. We can get the URL from which our app has been downloaded.
We can get the timestamp when the user clicks on the referrer URL.
We can get the timestamp of the user when the user downloads our app from a specific URL.
We can get the app version when our app was first installed.
We can track whether the user has used the app’s instant experience with the previous 7 days.
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