Is RideMETRO safe to use?

RideMETRO integrates 17 third-party SDKs spanning infrastructure, analytics, and security. It collects data linked to your identity including Financial Info, Contact Info, and Identifiers. It does not include any advertising or attribution SDKs. Whether this is acceptable depends on your personal privacy preferences.

What permissions does RideMETRO need?

RideMETRO requests 6 iOS permissions: Location (When In Use), Location (Always), Location (Always & When In Use), Calendars, Bluetooth, and Bluetooth Peripheral.

What data does RideMETRO collect?

According to its App Store privacy label, RideMETRO collects data linked to your identity including Financial Info, Contact Info, and Identifiers. It collects Location, Usage Data, and Diagnostics not linked to your identity.

How many SDKs does RideMETRO have?

RideMETRO integrates 17 third-party SDKs. 4 for analytics, 1 for crash reporting, 8 for infrastructure, and 2 for other. None are for advertising or attribution.

Does RideMETRO use Google SDKs?

Yes. RideMETRO includes 12 Google or Firebase SDKs: Firebase App Check Interop, Firebase Auth Interop, Firebase Core, Firebase Remote Config Interop, Firebase Sessions, Google Data Transport, Firebase Core Extension, Firebase Core Internal, Firebase Installations, Firebase Shared Swift, Google Utilities, and FirebaseMessagingInterop. These are used for cloud infrastructure and services, not advertising.

Does RideMETRO access your location?

Yes. RideMETRO requests location access. The developer states: "We are using your location to show you on map and show you nearby buses and arrivals".

Does RideMETRO run in the background?

Yes. RideMETRO registers 2 background modes, which means it can perform certain tasks when you're not actively using it.

What are some alternatives to RideMETRO?

Other navigation apps include ABRP , 高德地图 , Shell , SpotAngels , Avenza Maps , and 10-4 by WEX . Each app takes a different approach to navigation and varies in its data collection and SDK usage.

Navigation · Privacy report

RideMETRO

Free · ★2.5 · Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County

Is RideMETRO safe?

It leans heavily on third-party trackers.

Our take. RideMETRO is built with more third-party tracking code than 52% of the navigation we have scanned.

Privacy footprint · vs 89 navigationModerate

Trackers from other companies4 · some

typical navigation: 3

Data the app links to you3 types · little

typical navigation: 4 · from its own privacy label

What it collects about you

RideMETRO links 3 categories of your data to you.

From the developer's own App Store privacy label. These are the kinds of data RideMETRO ties to your identity.

Financial InfoContact InfoIdentifiers

Who else is inside

It carries trackers from 1 company.

Third-party SDKs found in the app, matched to the company that publishes each. Present in the code; we do not observe what they transmit.

🇺🇸GoogleAnalytics

Firebase, AdMob and Google analytics SDKs, built to record how you use the app and serve ads.

SDKs

How it compares

Where it sits among navigation.

Every one of these apps we have scanned, on the two measures above: third-party trackers it carries (across) and data it links to you on its own label (up). Toward the top right is more invasive.

Each dot is one navigation app. RideMETRO sits to the right, carrying more third-party tracking than most.

The evidence

What it's built from.

All 17 SDKs in the app, grouped by what they are for. 4 are third-party trackers.

4analytics

1crash reporting

12standard libraries

4 of the 17 are third-party trackers. The rest are the app's own code and standard open-source building blocks.

Show the full SDK list

GoogleAnalytics · USA

Firebase Core · Firebase Remote Config Interop · Firebase Sessions · Google Data Transport

Standard libraries12 · on-device

The app's own code plus open-source interface, storage and networking libraries.

How we know this

Counterspy downloads the app from the App Store and statically analyzes its compiled binary. Embedded SDKs are matched against a signature database and resolved to the company that operates each. We also read the developer's App Store privacy label, which lists the data the app says it collects and links to you. We do not run the app or intercept its traffic, so we report capabilities present in the code and the developer's own disclosures, not proven transmission. We assess privacy and data collection, not malware, security flaws, or developer intent. Reports are automated and never edited for payment. Scan v2.69, 2026-04-03.

Third-party trackers are advertising, analytics and attribution SDKs detected by static signature matching. Presence shows a capability is compiled in, not that it ran or transmitted data.
"Data the app links to you" is the count of data categories the developer declares as Data Linked To You in its App Store privacy label. Labels are self-reported and not verified by Apple.
Comparison across the 89 navigation in our corpus. Trackers: median 3. Data linked to you: median 4.