Shocking! iPhone Apps of Instagram, Facebook can track your activity on any website

A researcher named Felix Krause has warned against iPhone Apps of Facebook, Instagram by saying that they may be tracking everything users type in their in-app internet browsers.

Here is all you need to know about the warning about iPhone Apps of Facebook, and Instagram. (Amritanshu / HT Tech)

Do you use Instagram and Facebook on your Apple iPhone? If yes, here is something you need to know. Serious allegations have been made by a security researcher against Meta Platforms (previously known as Facebook) apps Facebook and Instagram, saying that their iPhone applications may be capable of tracking everything users type in their in-app internet browsers.

The information was provided by Felix Krause, an ex-Google engineer and a current researcher via his blog post. "The iOS Instagram and Facebook app render all third party links and ads within their app using a custom in-app browser. This causes various risks for the user, with the host app being able to track every single interaction with external websites, from all form inputs like passwords and addresses, to every single tap," he said in the blog post.

Explaining it further he said that links to external websites are rendered inside the Meta apps, instead of using the built-in Safari. This allows them to monitor everything happening on external websites, without the consent from the user, nor the website provider.

"The Instagram app injects their JavaScript code into every website shown, including when clicking on ads. Even though the injected script doesn't currently do this, running custom scripts on third party websites allows them to monitor all user interactions, like every button & link tapped, text selections, screenshots, as well as any form inputs, like passwords, addresses and credit card numbers," the blog post informed.

Meanwhile, Apple has also disclosed serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads and Macs on Friday. The security vulnerabilities can potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices. Apple has asked users to update to the new version.