Ad-/Tracking-Modules and Privacy Checker

That's not only annoying in many cases, but also a general security risk – as ad- and tracking-modules inherit all permissions from their „host-apps“. Moreover, there are other hidden costs of advertisements: with websites, they at best make up 50% of your traffic, in some cases more than 90%! Not to forget that sometimes there are also malicious ads – something Google Ads isn´t safe from either. So what can be done?

Buy apps. Usually, the paid versions do not contain ad-modules (exception: if the paid version is to be used as an addon to the free one; but unfortunately there are also other exceptions).
If there's no paid version (or that contains „sniffers“ as well): think about using an AdBlocker (in most cases, this requires root)
Alternatively, think about using a Firewall or Permission Blocker.
Take your apps exclusively from F-Droid (in my lists they can be identified by the F-Droid Icon). According to a study from 9/2017 this is the only place where neither Adware nor Malware was found (at Google Play they found e.g. ca. 2% Malware)

And if you think it’s only the online shops which are bugged: Nope. In offline stores, secret surveillance tracks your every move as well.

To protect yourself against that, you’ve first got to identify affected apps and places:

Identify Ad-Modules

2020-01-15

Goclean-Pop up Ad detector,airpush detector (4.4@2,919) 16
Exodus Privacy (4.2@354) 2 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ Github; Video Walk-Through 6/2018; Vorstellung 5/2019
Anti Adware (3.9@19,262) Ǥ 7 LastUpdate: 2018-06-19 Vorstellung 6/2013
AppBrain Ad Detector (3.9@10,139) Ǥ 6 Intro 9/2018; IzzyOnDroid Recommendation: also lists Social SDKs and developer toolkits; scan engine (database) is still updated even if the app was not
AirPush Detector (3.8@42,618) 0 LastUpdate: 2013-07-22
Addons Detector (3.8@8,195) Ǥ 8 Review 2/2018
TrustGo Ad Detector (3.7@11,451) 2 LastUpdate: 2015-01-02
Ad Detector (2.1@2,941) 3 LastUpdate: 2013-07-11
ClassyShark3xodus (0@0) 1 $Contains no known trackers \o/$

Privacy-Checker

2020-01-15

For general privacy-risks, a.o. the following apps watching out:

Camera Blocker - Anti Spyware (4.6@6,384) Ǥ 6 LastUpdate: 2018-02-01 / Camera Block Pro - Anti malware & Anti spyware app (4.7@1,351; ~EUR 7.00) 4 blocks camera access
Microphone Block Free -Anti malware & Anti spyware (4.6@3,856) Ǥ 8 / Microphone Block Pro - Anti spyware & Anti malware (4.4@619; ~EUR 7.00) 5
Spyware Detector - Anti Spy Privacy Scanner (4.5@38,458) Ǥ 9
Message Spy Remover (Anti Spy) (4.5@850) 5
Cameraless - Camera Blocker (4.4@4,515) Ǥ 13 blocks camera access
Anti Spy Mobile Free (4.3@19,440) 0 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ / Anti Spy Mobile PRO (4.2@1,432; ~EUR 5.00) Ǥ 3 AppThread@XDA-Forum
McAfee App Advisor (4.3@762) Ǥ 22 LastUpdate: 2016-12-31 what does it need those perms for?
Anti Spy for Paranoids (4.3@134) 2 LastUpdate: 2018-06-20
Defenx Privacy Advisor (4.3@6) Ǥ 10 LastUpdate: 2017-07-24
[ROOT] Privacy Assistant (4.3@6) 9
tSpyChecker (4.2@1,546) 0 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-03-27
Privacy Scanner (AntiSpy) Free (4.2@1,530) 0 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ / Privacy Scanner (AntiSpy) Pro (3.6@78) Ǥ 2 $Contains no known trackers \o/$
Exodus Privacy (4.2@354) 2 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ Github; Video Walk-Through 6/2018; Vorstellung 5/2019
PrivacyProxy (4.2@22) Ǥ 10 LastUpdate: 2018-05-24 giving you control of what information is sent out from your device
Privacy Guard (4.1@186) Ǥ 6
MyPermissions Privacy Cleaner (4@6,125) Ǥ 9 Vorstellung 11/2013 | 2/2014; 6/2014; Intro 3/2016; alarms you as soon as an app accesses your private data (but not before)
Anti Spy (SpyWare Removal) (4@1,523) 2
NoSpy MyPhone: Anti Spy (4@588) 11 LastUpdate: 2015-09-29
SpyCamBlocker Free (beta) (3.9@199) 2 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2014-03-14 Disables camera access
Anti Spy Detector Free (3.9@162) 0 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ / Anti Spy Detector Pro (4.5@17; ~EUR 2.00) 0
Androlyzer - Privacy Scanner (3.9@77) 4 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-11-05 Detection of malware, spyware, trojans and undesired data leaks; see website
Lumen Privacy Monitor (3.7@188) 15
Clueful Privacy Advisor (3.5@79) 4 LastUpdate: 2017-05-17 Vorstellung 5/2013 | 5/2013 | 12/2013; Review 6/2013 | 11/2013; shows potential risks, but excludes its own from the lists
Hidden Apps Detector (3.4@1,623) 3

Other Sniffer-Detectors

2020-01-05

Beacon Scope (4.6@10) 5 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-05-11
Beacon Monitor (4.6@5) 8 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-01-23
Fake Hotspot Detector -AntiSpy (4.5@231) 10 LastUpdate: 2018-07-01
WireTap Detection (Anti Spy) (4.3@5,318) 7
HttpCanary — HTTP Sniffer/Capture/Analysis (4.3@1,227) 8 / HttpCanary (Premium) (3.5@235; ~EUR 4.50) 7 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ User Manual
Beacon Scanner (4.3@392) Ǥ 8 check whether a place is bugged with Bluetooth beacons
Scam Apps Detector (4.3@8) 2 LastUpdate: 2017-05-11
Cell Spy Catcher (Anti Spy) (4.2@2,701) 7 detect Stingray Cell Phone Trackers („IMSI catchers“)
WireTap and Spy Removal (4.2@2,498) 9 Needs your location to detect wiretaps?
SpyWare Removal (Anti Spy) (4.1@572) 2
WIFI Privacy (4.1@31) 5 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-12-27 protects against WiFi tracking
SnoopSnitch (4@3,397) 16 Intro 1/2015 | 4/2015; Vorstellung 2015; Video Demo 11/2016; Mike’s favorite; detect Stingray Cell Phone Trackers and missing security patches
GSM Spy Finder (4@2,914) Ǥ 14 detect Stingray Cell Phone Trackers („IMSI catchers“), but spies itself (see included trackers)
Wi-Fi Privacy Police (3.9@1,204) 5 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2016-10-08 Github; Vorstellung 1/2015; protects against WiFi tracking
[root] Pry-Fi (3.7@6,746) Ǥ 10 $Contains no known trackers \o/$ LastUpdate: 2014-02-17 Vorstellung 2/2014; Intro 2/2014; Test 3/2014; protects against being WiFi-sniffed
CrappaLinks (0@0) LastUpdate: 2014-10-05 Video Review 4/2014; Kurzvorstellung 10/2014; Github; Remove link masking/tracking from various apps

Further Readings:

Category Ad-Blocker
Category Anti-Virus, Anti-Malware, Anti-Theft
Category App-Locker
Category Permissions
Beware those snooping mods! in the help section
PrivacyGrade: Grading The Privacy Of Smartphone Apps
Das inoffizielle Android Handbuch: Risiken werbefinanzierter Apps / Privacy / Verbindungsdaten
Privacy settings with Google: Google Settings Is a Super Useful Android App You've Probably Ignored
Why „I´ve got nothing to hide“ is wrong: 7 videos a 15 min by DoNotTrack
Checkliste: Apps richtig beurteilen
Video (~3min): What Is Privacy?
New study: The advertising industry is systematically breaking the law (1/2020)
Datenhandel mit Dating-Apps: Wir Konsumroboter taz.de (1/2020)
How ultrasonic tracking apps may be listening to you and how to block them (10/2019)
Video from CCCamp2019 (~6min): Lightning Talk: Android! Privacy is not a Luxury (8/2019)
IMSI-Catcher: So lassen sich Informationen übers Handynetz abfangen (8/2019)
Wie Apps Sicherheitsmechanismen umgehen: 1 | 2 (8/2019)
Why just checking permissions is insufficient (and you should rather prefer FOSS apps): More than 1,000 Android apps harvest data even after you deny permissions (7/2019)
In Stores, Secret Surveillance Tracks Your Every Move (Bluetooth Beacons; 6/2019)
Alphonso: Smartphone-Apps hören uns legal für Werbung ab (6/2019)
How do tracking companies know what you did last summer? (4/2019)
App-Werbung: Betrug mit verdeckten Videos (3/2019)
Podcast Tracking: Ein Tag im Internet - welche Spuren hinterlasse ich (2/2019)
Thousands of apps are illegally working around the ad ID (2/2019)
Geschwätzige Android-Apps send detailed data to Facebook (12/2018)
Werbe-Apps: Von nervig bis gefährlich (12/2018)
Wenn das Smartphone wissen will, was im Fernsehen läuft (11/2018)
Study: Third Party Tracking in the Mobile Ecosystem (PDF; 10/2018)
90% of the investigated 1M Playstore-Apps set up to transfer information back to Google
Now Apps Can Track You Even After You Uninstall Them / Apps kommunizieren mit Nutzern – auch wenn sie deinstalliert sind (10/2018)
Mobile app data sharing 'out of control' (10/2018)
Apps: Datenschutzerklärung vs. tatsächlich gesammelte Daten (9/2018)
Zu Hülf: Meine App spioniert mich aus! (6/2018)
App-Module (SDKs): So tracken Apps ihre Nutzer (5/2017-11/2018)
App-Module als Sicherheitsrisiko (4/2018)
Study finds over 3,300 Android apps improperly tracking kids (4/2018)
Android: Facebook-Wanze in vielen Apps (4/2018)
Datenlobby kämpft mit Tracking-Brandbrief gegen ePrivacy (3/2018)
Android: Elegante Lösung gegen WLAN-Tracking (3/2018)
To Avoid Malware, Try the F-Droid App Store (1/2018)
LightsOut und Co.: Android-Adware im Google Play Store (1/2018)
Anyone can buy online ads and track your location in real time (10/2017)
App AGB: Diese Vertragsklauseln sind unzulässig (6/2017)
Schnüffel-Module in Apps: Das können Sie tun (5/2017 - 1/2019)
Tracking im Internet: Cookies, Cache & Co (3/2017)
So bekommen Sie mehr Privatsphäre bei Android (3/2017)
Datenhändler: Wir sind gläsern – Datensammler (Artikelserie, Start 1/2017)
The Terrifying Cost of »Free« Websites (12/2016) Watch this!
Wie im Internet Geld verdient wird – Markt und Macht der Werbebranche (10/2016)
Warum Datenschutz jeden angeht (und nicht nur diejenigen, die etwas angestellt haben) (7/2016)
Ortsdaten von zwei Apps reichen, um Nutzer zu identifizieren (4/2016)
Tausende Apps scheffeln mit unsichtbarer Werbung Geld (7/2015)
Is Advertising Morally Justifiable? The Importance of Protecting Our Attention (Summary; 7/2015)
Free Apps May Be Tracking Your Phone Without Your Consent (5/2015)
Privatsphäre auf dem Smartphone: So schützt Ihr Eure Daten (4/2015 - 3/2019)
Invisible Infrastructures : Online Trackers (3/2015)
The Android Apps That Collect the Most Data on You (12/2014)
Hallo, Datenkrake! – So formt die Werbeindustrie detaillierte Nutzerprofile 1 | 2 | 3 (7/2014)
2013: Zielgruppenspezifische Malware und der Aufstieg (und Niedergang) von Adware (2/2014)
Die Privatsphäre als Produkt: Datenschutz als Geschäftsmodell (2/2014)
Apps sammeln immer aggressiver Nutzerdaten (2/2014; Article smells of BitDefender-Promo; so better "ignore/neutralize" the advertized products)
Studie: Kostenlose Apps verbrauchen bis zu 75 % der Energie für Werbung (3/2012)

2020-01-17

IzzyOnDroid