Mobile security company AdaptiveMobile said that three-quarters of smartphone users may give away their physical location when downloading apps onto their device.

The company’s Global Security Insights in Mobile report found that 75 percent of more than 1,000 respondents said they fail to read app terms and conditions – which include access to location data – despite 69 percent believing this kind of privacy breach is “totally unacceptable”.

AdaptiveMobile found some common apps may contact as many as 17 domains to share location information, including third parties such as advertisers.

Almost two-thirds of iPhone users (65 percent) are unaware that free applications may compromise their privacy. Some 29 percent of Windows Phone users said they would stop downloading free apps if they had reason to believe their personal information wasn’t safe.

Meanwhile, 70 percent of users said they didn’t know how to configure their smartphone security. However, 60 percent said they would now read terms and conditions of apps in the future and 43 percent that they would customise their device security.

“We are downloading more apps than ever before, but people are unaware that their location and other information can be harvested by applications,” said AdaptiveMobile VP of handset security, Ciaran Bradley. He added that both operators and users need to take steps to reduce the potential for this to happen.