A recent survey from Skyhook Wireless revealed the major reasons users are hesitant to use location services in mobile apps.
In a survey of 1,000 mobile users focused on consumer opinion surrounding location-based services and apps on mobile devices, the results indicted that 83% of users say location services are vital to an app but about 40% of users hesitate to share their location data due to privacy concerns.
Understandably, many smartphone users are nervous about the potential negative implications that they could come across by revealing their personal location data through locative media. Many consumers do not enable location services on their mobile devices because they are concerned about who could get ahold of their data. Users’ fears range from governmental and corporate invasions of privacy to collateral and social invasions of privacy.
It’s important that consumers are adequately informed about the retention of their location data. However, they can’t always be sure about which location-based entities are trustworthy and which are not. It’s the job of the location-based services and technologies to inform their mobile users about the exact reasons why their app needs to be able to pinpoint the users’ locations in order to perform properly. When the notification pops up on my phone that asks permission to use location for the app, it should also tell me exactly why my location is necessary for the app to work. There needs to be incentive, benefits, and understanding for the users to be able to trust the apps enough to disclose their location.