YouTube Music vs Shazam

Privacy compared: the newest public version of each, scored by the same six rules. Shazam scores 80 and YouTube Music 69, so Shazam is 11 points ahead.

69of 100

YouTube Musiccom.google.android.apps.youtube.music

version 9.40.51

80of 100

Shazamcom.shazam.android

version 16.63.0-261008 ahead by 11

Who is ahead on what

The longer bar is the better one on every axis; a score is the mean of its six axes. The arithmetic behind each is on the app's own card.

Axes: Shazam leads on 3 axes, YouTube Music on 1 axis; 2 axes are level.
Trackers: YouTube Music carries 1 tracker, Shazam 3 trackers; fewer is better.
Dangerous permissions: YouTube Music may ask for 4 permissions, Shazam for 2 permissions.

The six axes

Each axis is one short rule applied to both apps, with the one thing that decided its number underneath.

Security Shazam +30

YouTube Music 70 1 security problem found.

Shazam 100 No security problem found.

Tracking YouTube Music +8

YouTube Music 79 1 tracking tool found.

Shazam 71 3 tracking tools found.

Build hygiene Shazam +15

YouTube Music 71 The app passes 10 of 14 checks of how well it was built.

Shazam 86 The app passes 12 of 14 checks of how well it was built.

Packaging level

YouTube Music 100 Unpacked, the base APK is 81 MB; 170 KB of it is unused files.

Shazam 100 The phone can use everything in the app.

Access Shazam +32

YouTube Music 38 Asks for 7 of 11 kinds of permission; no special access.

Shazam 70 Asks for 3 of 11 kinds of permission; 1 kind of special access.

Background level

YouTube Music 54 Runs 3 kinds of background service and starts by itself after a restart.

Shazam 54 Runs 3 kinds of background service and starts by itself after a restart.

TrackersYouTube Music 1 · Shazam 3

The advertising, analytics and attribution SDKs recognised in each app. What only one of them carries is what sets it apart.

Only in YouTube Music

none

In both

Firebase Analytics

Only in Shazam

Facebook SDKFirebase Performance

Dangerous permissionsYouTube Music 4 · Shazam 2

The permissions Android asks the user about at run time: the camera, the microphone, the location, the contacts and the like. An app may need one for what it does; asking is not the same as using.

Only in YouTube Music

ACCESS_FINE_LOCATIONCAMERAREAD_EXTERNAL_STORAGEWRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE

In both

none

Only in Shazam

ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATIONRECORD_AUDIO

Where this comes from

Both are the apps' public cards: what anyone may know of an app, from its newest public version - one Google Play installed, and out in the world. Each card has the score's lines and the earlier versions: YouTube Music, Shazam.