What permissions does United need?

United requests 17 iOS permissions: Camera, Microphone, Contacts, Photo Library, Location (When In Use), Location (Always & When In Use), Calendars, Motion & Fitness, Speech Recognition, Face ID, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Peripheral, Local Network, Siri, Apple Music, HomeKit, and NFC.

What data does United collect?

According to its App Store privacy label, United collects data linked to your identity including Purchases, Financial Info, Location, Contact Info, User Content, Search History, Identifiers, Usage Data, Sensitive Info, and Diagnostics.

How many SDKs does United have?

United integrates 39 third-party SDKs. 2 for advertising, 5 for analytics, 6 for infrastructure, and 26 for other.

Does United use Google SDKs?

Yes. United includes 2 Google or Firebase SDKs: Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA) and Mux IMA Plugin. These are primarily used for advertising.

Does United access your location?

Yes. United requests location access. The developer states: "Location data helps us give you customized help and updates during your trip, like step-by-step guidance through the airport.".

Does United access your camera or microphone?

United requests access to both your camera and microphone. The developer says camera access is for "Camera usage to scan travel documents, add payment options or video chat with an agent". Microphone access is for "Microphone usage to chat with an agent". These permissions are only active when you grant them in iOS Settings.

Does United access your contacts?

Yes. United requests access to your contacts. The developer states: "would like to access your contacts.".

Does United run in the background?

Yes. United registers 4 background modes, which means it can perform certain tasks when you're not actively using it.

What are some alternatives to United?

Other travel apps include Air Canada , Aeroméxico , Air France , Airalo , Airbnb , and Priority Pass+ . Each app takes a different approach to travel and varies in its data collection and SDK usage.

Travel · Privacy report

United Airlines

Free · ★4.8 · United Airlines

Is United safe?

It collects a lot of your data itself.

Our take. Its own App Store privacy label declares United links 10 categories of your data to your identity, including purchases, financial info, location and contact info. That collection, more than any outside tracker, is the story here.

Privacy footprint · vs 103 travelHeavy

Trackers from other companies7 · some

typical travel: 5

Data the app links to you10 types · a lot

typical travel: 5 · from its own privacy label

What it collects about you

United links 10 categories of your data to you.

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

PurchasesFinancial InfoLocationContact InfoUser ContentSearch HistoryIdentifiersUsage DataSensitive InfoDiagnostics

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.

🏢Other third partiesadvertising

A third-party SDK.

SDKs

How it compares

Where it sits among travel.

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 travel app. United sits high on the left: it collects a lot itself but uses few outside trackers.

The evidence

What it's built from.

All 39 SDKs in the app, grouped by what they are for. 7 are third-party trackers.

2advertising

5analytics

32standard libraries

7 of the 39 are third-party trackers. The rest are the app's own code and standard open-source building blocks.

Show the full SDK list

Other third partiesadvertising

Google Interactive Media Ads (IMA) · Optimizely · Mux Analytics · Mux IMA Plugin · Radar Location · Uplift Ads

Standard libraries32 · 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 v4.2.70, 2026-04-01.

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 103 travel in our corpus. Trackers: median 5. Data linked to you: median 5.