Facebook, Facebook Messenger top iOS 14 tracking charts

Facebook Messenger on an iPhone XS
Facebook Messenger on an iPhone XS (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • A new Axios report contains a chart of social media apps ranked by Apple's new nutrition labels.
  • They show Facebook and Facebook messenger use more user data than competitors.

A new Axios report has confirmed Facebook and Facebook Messenger use more data than their competitors, according to Apple's new iOS 14 nutrition labels.

From the report:

Apple this week posted new privacy "nutrition labels" on apps in the iOS App Store, giving users a look at how different apps stack up according to Apple's standards, Axios' Sara Fischer reports.The big picture: The labels show that generally, social media apps collect more kinds of data than messaging apps.

As you can see from the Axios table, Facebook and Facebook Messenger lead the social media and messaging charts respectively when it comes to data use.

Nutrition Labels

Nutrition Labels (Image credit: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios)

The news doesn't come as a surprise, with the introduction of these privacy labels in iOS 14, it emerged that Facebook was using swathes of user data. From an earlier report:

The plain text of Facebook's 'App Privacy' section on the App Store runs to over 650 words, and you don't have to read the whole thing to get an idea of just how intrusive Facebook actually is as an app. Data used to track users include; your address, email address, name, phone number, whilst data linked to users includes; purchase history, precise location information, photos and videos, contacts, health & fitness analytics, and more. The list goes on and on.

Apple has been in a public spat with Facebook all week over privacy and plans to allow users to opt-out of tracking across apps in a new iOS 14 feature next year.

Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9