  With smartphone technologies enhanced way of interacting with the world
around us, it has also been paving the way for easier access to our private and
personal information. This has been amplified by the existence of numerous
embedded sensors utilized by millions of apps to users. While mobile apps have
positively transformed many aspects of our lives with new functionalities, many
of these applications are taking advantage of vast amounts of data, privacy
apps, a form of Privacy Enhancing Technology can be an effective privacy
management tool for smartphones. To protect against vulnerabilities related to
the collection, storage, and sharing of sensitive data, developers are building
numerous privacy apps. However, there has been a lack of discretion in this
particular area which calls for a proper assessment to understand the
far-reaching utilization of these apps among users. During this process we have
conducted an evaluation of the most popular privacy apps from our total
collection of five hundred and twelve to demonstrate their functionality
specific data protections they are claiming to offer, both technologically and
conventionally, measuring up to standards. Taking their offered security
functionalities as a scale, we conducted forensic experiments to indicate where
they are failing to be consistent in maintaining protection. For legitimate
validation of security gaps in assessed privacy apps, we have also utilized
NIST and OWASP guidelines. We believe this study will be efficacious for
continuous improvement and can be considered as a foundation towards a common
standard for privacy and security measures for an app's development stage.
