MEITU, A CHINESE selfie editing app, has amassed billions in downloads since launching in 2008; it’s been trendy in Asia for several years, and just recently began gaining popularity in the United States. The anime-style photo-editing tool, which is available through the Apple and Android app stores, features airbrushed, fairylike depictions of people.
Users noticed that the Android version had very invasive permissions, and developers who took a deeper look found code that pulled a whole lot of sensitive data off your phone, and sent it to Meitu’s servers in China. That included unique identifiers for your phone — its IMEI and MAC address — and precise GPS coordinates of your location, which is pulled from the EXIF data of photos you take even if you deny the app permission to your phone’s location data. It even checked iOS versions to see if they were running on jailbroken device, so it could send back more data.
https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Blog/Meitu-the-tracking-controversy-over-the-latest-selfie-craze/bc-p/19871691