Social networking app company Path issued an apology after complaints about the way it handled users’ personal information.

The company was found to be uploading data from handset address books to its servers, without explicitly stating that this was the case.

The intention was to be able to alert Path users when one of their contacts joined the service, based on existing relationships.

The issue was first noted by developer Arun Thampi, who discovered that Path was uploading the “entire address book (including full names, emails and phone numbers).” He said in a blog post that “I love path as an iOS app and I think there are some brilliant people working in it, but this seems a little creepy.”

Dave Morin, co-founder and CEO of Path (pictured), responded by apologising in a blog post, stating: “We care deeply about your privacy and about creating a trusted place for you to share life with your close friends and family. As we continue to expand and grow we will make some mistakes along the way. We commit to you that we will continue to be transparent and always serve you, our users, first.”

Morin said that Path transmitted the data using an encrypted connection, and was secured on its servers using “industry standard firewall technology.” It said that it has now deleted all of the information from its servers.

The company has also released an updated app into the App Store, stating that “you are prompted to opt in or out of sharing your phone’s contacts with our servers.”