Samsung Weather App Creates Unique Device Fingerprint Through Saved Locations
SamsungWeatherAppDeviceFingerprintLocationTrackingPrivacyAPIGPSVPNNetworkRoamingIBMTheWeatherCompany
A study of 9,211 weather API requests from 42 Samsung devices found that the pre-installed Samsung Weather app generates a unique, persistent device fingerprint using saved location IDs (placeid values). This fingerprint remains consistent across IP changes, VPNs, and network roaming, with 96.4% uniqueness among users. The app transmits these identifiers to api.weather.com (The Weather Company/IBM) via hardcoded API keys, along with redundant GPS coordinates. Previous legal actions have targeted weather apps for similar location-tracking practices.