NL-Alert warning app has data leak and should be deleted: ministry

The NL-Alert app which the government introduced in March so that people can be warned about disasters in their neighbourhood has a data leak and should be deleted from phones, the justice ministry has said.

Some 58,000 people have installed the app on their phones since it was launched as a supplement to the existing NL-Alert push message service which started in 2012.

The ministry discovered the leak this week. The app is based on personal location software but also collects information about the phone software and other apps, some of which is ending up in the hands of company in America involved in the development, local broadcaster RTV Noord said.

The ministry has requested that the un-named company destroy the information. The app makers, a company based in Groningen, are working on an update. Until then, officials say, users should delete the app from their phones.