How does a random app know my shopping habits?

[DerHof]

Ok, I know that practically everything we do online and on our phones is monitored. But I installed Doodle Jump today on my S8. Free version so ads were popping up. Mostly Amazon ads... with items in my saved for later list. Specific items for a PC I'm about to build. How in the holy F does this app that I literally just installed know what to pull from Amazon specifically for me?

 

[Sophos]

Ok, I know that practically everything we do online and on our phones is monitored. But I installed Doodle Jump today on my S8. Free version so ads were popping up. Mostly Amazon ads... with items in my saved for later list. Specific items for a PC I'm about to build. How in the holy F does this app that I literally just installed know what to pull from Amazon specifically for me?

Crazy, is your Amazon login the same as your Google (Gmail)?

 

[DerHof]

Crazy, is your Amazon login the same as your Google (Gmail)?

Nope, my Amazon login is unique to Amazon alone.
I generally have unique logins for every website.
Games on my phone will generally use my Google login but that's different.

 

[Sophos]

Nope, my Amazon login is unique to Amazon alone.
I generally have unique logins for every website.
Games on my phone will generally use my Google login but that's different.

Then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.....my amazon login is my google id and I've never seen the personalized ads in apps...only in searches.

 

[DerHof]

Then ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.....my amazon login is my google id and I've never seen the personalized ads in apps...only in searches.

I'm going to email Amazon on this... I find it quite disturbing!

 

[ManiacJoe]

The simple answer is that when you last used the Amazon app on the phone, you did not log out, thus leaving the Amazon ad system attached to your phone and available to all apps using the Amazon cookies.

 

[Tim1954]

Yup... It's good not to use "free" WiFi in shopping centres... You are monitored for the entire stay, what store you go to, where you spend the most time in the store (!!!)...
You stand around electronics area and next thing you get popup ads about TV, microwave etc....

 

[DerHof]

Yup... It's good not to use "free" WiFi in shopping centres... You are monitored for the entire stay, what store you go to, where you spend the most time in the store (!!!)...
You stand around electronics area and next thing you get popup ads about TV, microwave etc....

Never used wifi outside of my home in my life. I have unlimited data...

 

[DerHof]

The simple answer is that when you last used the Amazon app on the phone, you did not log out, thus leaving the Amazon ad system attached to your phone and available to all apps using the Amazon cookies.

Interesting... I'll keep that in mind. I use the Amazon app often on my phone.

 

[PNvmkpk]

The way ads in app works is it pulls the scripts from (in this case) amazon.com which already has all your details. This might even work when you logout of the site because amazon.com ties your account to a unique ID generated from your phone and permanently associates it to your Amazon account.