The Trump administration’s newly launched White House App is already raising serious eyebrows after a software developer claims to have uncovered embedded code that tracks users’ precise GPS coordinates every 4.5 minutes, syncing them automatically to a third-party server, as reported by International Business Times. This unsettling discovery by X user @Thereallo1026, has garnered nearly 260,000 views and ignited a firestorm of questions about data collection practices in official government applications.
The developer’s post included what appeared to be decompiled source code from the app, which they described as containing OneSignal’s “full GPS pipeline compiled in.” According to the claims, this code shows the app “polling your location every 4.5 minutes, syncing your exact coordinates to a third-party server.” The White House has not yet publicly addressed these specific technical allegations.
OneSignal is a popular push notification platform, and its own documentation states that it updates a user’s GPS coordinates “approximately every 5 minutes (based on permission and system rules)” when location sharing is enabled. This platform is typically used by developers to target users with messages based on their physical location, which makes sense for, say, a retail app, but less so for an official government communication tool.
Beyond the GPS tracking, the app’s full list of requested permissions is also causing a stir
The decompiled code shared by @Thereallo1026 specifically references Android location permission strings, background location access, and a foreground update time set to 270,000 milliseconds—that’s exactly 4.5 minutes. It also shows a background update time of 600,000 milliseconds, or 10 minutes. If these details are accurate, it means the app is configured to collect and transmit precise location data continuously, even when you aren’t actively using it.
Another viral post by @DiligentDenizen flagged these permissions as what they called “China-level big brother permissions.” The screenshot shared shows the White House App requesting access to precise and approximate location, the ability to modify or delete shared storage contents, the use of fingerprint and biometric hardware, network and Wi-Fi connections, the power to prevent the phone from sleeping, and the option to run at startup.
When you look at that list—precise user locations, biometric fingerprint scanners, and internal storage modification—it is a lot for an official government application. Privacy researchers and civil liberties organizations are understandably concerned. To make matters worse, the Apple App Store offers minimal transparency on how this harvested personal data will actually be used. Users are just redirected to a generic technology privacy policy page that completely sidesteps the app’s specific tracking capabilities.
President Trump’s administration launched this app recently, touting it as a way to deliver “President Donald J. Trump and his Administration directly to the American people like never before.” They promoted it as a tool for unfiltered, real-time communication, offering breaking news alerts, live briefings, a media library, and a direct feedback channel.
Independent academic research has already identified OneSignal as one of the most common SDKs collecting device GPS location across thousands of Android applications. That research noted that such data raises significant concerns because geolocation information “can reveal individuals’ daily habits” and “visits to sensitive sites.”
OneSignal itself states its SDK doesn’t collect location data unless a developer explicitly enables the feature and a user grants permission. However, when the app is operated by the federal government, that distinction does little to soothe the fears of privacy advocates, especially when this current administration has already been accused of snooping on Senators.
Published: Mar 30, 2026 05:45 pm