Use the Verizon app? Check your settings to protect your privacy

If you are a Verizon customer and use the wireless carrier's mobile app, you might want to give your privacy settings a close check.

Verizon's app includes access to Customer Experience programs the telecommunications company says will "tailor Verizon content to your interests."

"You get the most personalized content and marketing when you opt-in to Custom Experience Plus because it allows us to use a broader range of information to better understand your interests," reads a FAQ on Verizon's website.

In order to learn about your interests, the FAQ says it will use information about the websites you visit and the mobile apps you use.

Although these are optional programs, Verizon opts you into them automatically, as was first reported by Input.

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What if you don't want to share this information? Here's how to opt out:

• Visit the My Verizon app, then click on Settings (the gear in the top right corner)
• Once logged in, scroll down to Manage Privacy settings.
• Select the phone you want to update.
• Toggle off "Custom Experience" and "Custom Experience Plus."

Verizon says the data collected is not sold to others for advertising purposes, and they do not share identifiable data with other companies.

Many apps, including Verizon disclose data that may be collected and linked to your identity. On Apple's App Store, for example, when downloading an app, users can review what data might be collected including location, contact information, usage data and search history.

Data collection is among the topics lawmakers are weighing as they decide how to regulate big tech companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple.

Facebook and Apple clashed earlier this year after the iPhone maker introduced an update allowing users to opt out of being tracked by apps such as Facebook. 

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.