CITT

    HOW SCORING WORKS

    How CanITrustThat scores an app's security and privacy

    From the shipped binary to a 0 to 100 score, with the evidence behind every point.

    CanITrustThat scores an app by decompiling the build that ships to your phone and grading how its code handles security and privacy against a fixed set of checks. Every app gets one overall trust score from 0 to 100, with separate security and privacy scores and the code evidence behind each one. The result is a free public scorecard.

    How does a scan work?

    1. 1

      Decompile the shipped app

      We start from the exact file people install, the Android APK or the iOS build, and turn it back into readable source. We analyze the app that ships, never the store listing or the privacy policy.

    2. 2

      Read the code

      We go through the recovered code for how it handles secrets, cryptography, network transport, storage, permissions, and third-party trackers and SDKs. On Android we also build a call graph, so a finding ties back to exactly where it lives and how the app reaches it. iOS scans don't get a call graph yet.

    3. 3

      Check what it does against what it declares

      Now we look at behavior: the servers it talks to, the data it moves off the device, and how that lines up with what it claims to do. This is where the quiet stuff surfaces, the flows an app never mentions on screen.

    4. 4

      Score across the trust pillars

      Findings roll up into security and privacy scores across the five pillars, then combine into one trust score from 0 to 100 that maps to the bands below.

    5. 5

      Publish the verdict and the evidence

      The scorecard goes public: the overall score, the security and privacy scores, a plain verdict, and the specific findings from the code that back it. That part is free. The detailed report goes deeper for the teams who have to act on it.

    What do the scores mean?

    Every app lands in one of six bands on a 0 to 100 scale. The band gives you the headline verdict. The findings underneath show how the app earned it.

    ScoreVerdictWhat it means
    0–30Don't TrustSerious security or privacy failures. Skip it unless you truly have no other option.
    31–50UnsafeReal problems that put your data at risk. Think hard before you install.
    51–65Use With CautionUsable, but with weaknesses you'll want to understand before you rely on it.
    66–80AcceptableSensible practices with room to tighten up. Nothing alarming.
    81–90TrustworthyHandles your security and privacy well, with only minor findings.
    91–100Very SecureGets the hard parts right and keeps nothing hidden from the code.

    What does "TRUSTED" actually check?

    The public TRUSTED mark rests on five plain pillars. Each one is a question you'd ask yourself before installing, and each is backed by specific checks in the code.

    Is my data actually protected, from the secrets and encryption down to how it's stored and who gets in?

    Secure by Design

    Data is protected to the standard it should be.

    Does this app take only what it needs, or does it follow me around across other apps and installs?

    Data Respect

    Collects only what it needs, and does not track users around.

    Does it do what it says on the screens I see, or is there something moving in the background?

    Honest Experience

    It does what it says, with no hidden surprises.

    If I change my mind, can I get my data out and actually leave?

    User Control

    People can export their data and leave at any time.

    If this app is made for kids, is it genuinely safe for them? (Checked only for children's apps.)

    Child-Safe · conditional

    Safe for kids, checked only when an app is made for children.

    What does a "TRUSTED" verdict mean?

    A TRUSTED app clears the security and privacy checks behind all five pillars and lands in the upper score bands. The code we read handles the things that matter, secrets, encryption, what it collects, who it shares with, and whether you can leave, the way it should, with no serious finding left hanging.

    Read it as an evidence-backed snapshot of what the app does in the version we scanned. Ship a new build and things can change, which is why the scan is repeatable and the evidence sits right there on the page. Use it alongside your own judgment, not in place of it.