Did TikTok put malware on my phone? (Serous)

Ok hear me out for a second cause i know that sounds crazy but i was scrolling today tiktok showed me a post from a kid in my English class and had a pop up asking if i knew them and wanted to follow them. I don’t have a screenshot cause i got kinda freaked out and closed the app but the pop up said smth like that. The thing is I didn’t give it access to anything like contacts, and I’m not following anyone I know irl on any of my accounts, so I have no clue how they knew I knew her. They also only have limited access to photos and I’ve only ever given it access to art-making footage so it can’t be facial recognition or anything. It never asked to use my location either, and when i looked it up it says apple apps need to ask user permission to access their location.

This isn’t the first time something like that happened either - when I first downloaded the app it asked if I wanted to give access to my contacts, and when I said no, a pop up appeared suggesting friends from my contacts even though I didn’t give it access.

Does anyone who knows more abt tech than me know if this a glitch with Apple giving them access, or if it’s actually just taking it from my phone? Or is it a legal loophole or smth? Or am I just being paranoid lol

Comments

Putridlemonsover 1 year ago1

You're being paranoid, and the location permission means nothing lmao. I have my location turned off for Tiktok, but it still knows I'm in Florida. It's able to tell who's a US user and who isn't, and I'm sure they use timezones as well.

Think about this logically. What is the worst Tiktok can do with your state of residence or connecting your contacts automatically lmao.