Claims are circulating online that the House Party (Houseparty) app that allows users to video chat and play games with friends is actually “hacking” user’s phones and accessing their other online accounts such as Netflix and Spotify.
An example of such a claim about the House Party app is below.
DELETE HOUSEPARTY!!!! Warning sign They are hacking into spotifys, snapchats and even online banking!!! Delete your account before deleting the app
In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak of 2020, a number of video chat apps saw a surge of downloads as people around the world sought to communicate across the Internet. One such app was the House Party app.
As is often the case when an app finds itself thrown into the public eye in such a rapid fashion, alarmist rumours proliferate online vaguely attributing the app as the work of “hackers” or cyber criminals. The same happened to the Talking Angela app. The same happened to the FaceApp app. And similar rumours circulating in the aftermath of the ridiculous Momo Challenge debacle.
The problem, however, is that such rumours take on a life of their own, and as they shoot around the Internet from person to person, they become more and more fanciful and alarmist, and increasingly further away from the truth.
In the case of the House Party app, for example, many users initially reported seeing random people drop into their online chats (more on that below.) And while such reports were probably based on genuine events, in social media whispers style, soon the app was responsible for “hacking” other accounts, and then it was apparently “clearing the bank accounts” of anyone who used it.
TLDR: Let’s clear up most of these claims here in one swoop. If you don’t have the time to read, then the basic facts are that the app is owned by a reputable company (not hackers) and it isn’t being used to “hack” your phone, your Netflix account, your bank account or whatever other issues it has been attributed to. Additionally there is no evidence that the app itself has been compromised or that it is being used to compromise other online accounts. In terms of privacy, it’s policy is pretty bog standard for an app of its ilk, and we recommend users understand how the privacy works to avoid some awkward situations. Finally, we don’t recommend younger children use this app.
While some like to vaguely attribute blame to hackers when something they don’t like or understand happens, no, House Party isn’t owned or operated by hackers. In fact, since 2019, it is owned by Epic Games. They’re a pretty reputable company, especially since they also own one of the most popular video games of the last decade, Fortnite.
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This is a strange feature of the House Party app; that any contact belonging to any person in a group chat can also add themselves to that group chat. This has led to many stories surfacing online (many of which have been covered by the media) about “strangers” appearing in group chats.
However the app does offer a way to stop this from happening. Simply click the padlock that appears at the bottom of the screen to “lock the chat” and prevent any uninvited people from appearing.
The app also provides an opportunity for someone to invite people stored in their phone’s address book to the app, who would then become contacts. It is this feature that undoubtedly causes many people sharing stories of “exes” or their boss turning up as a contact in the app.
The inevitable alarmist echoes of social media have amplified this rumour tenfold, but it extremely unlikely that this app is “hacking” other apps. The problem with such claims of this ilk is that they don’t provide any evidence or explanation as to how the House Party app compromises third party apps on a phone, or the phone itself, all the while somehow managing to pass the vetting processes of the Apple and Play stores where it is available to download.
In fact, such claims seem to rely on the specious reasoning that because a third party account appears to have been compromised whilst a person had the House Party app installed, then “post hoc ergo propter hoc it must have been the House Party app.”
As stated above, the app is owned by Epic Games, the same company behind Fortnite. It is unlikely that this company has designed their app to hack the phones of people who use it. As for the possibility that the app could have been compromised by third parties, this has been dismissed by the House Party (Epic Games) team themselves.
All Houseparty accounts are safe – the service is secure, has never been compromised, and doesn’t collect passwords for other sites.
A spokesperson for Epic Games also told us…
We’ve found no evidence to suggest a link between Houseparty and the compromises of other unrelated accounts
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The privacy policy for House Party is standard. The app does collect information on its users, primarily device information and basic personal information that becomes aggregated. It doesn’t appear to collect any more information than other apps a person likely has installed on their phone including Facebook, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Twitter.
The app permissions are pretty standard as well. It requires permission to the camera and microphone for basic functionality and a person’s stored contacts so you can invite friends. It also optionally requests data to your location in order to “find friends near you” but this permission can be denied.
We don’t recommend younger children use this app since it can connect you to people you don’t know in a live video chat environment that lacks any significant parental controls.
To summarise, all the claims we’ve examined lack any credible evidence or provide any reasoning as how or why the House Party app is “hacking” phones or online accounts. We rate this claim unproven.
UPDATE:
The developers of the House Party app have offered $1 million bounty for anyone who can provide proof of what they describe as a “commercial smear campaign” against their product. More here.