Walmart

Is the Walmart app safe?

Yes for everyday shopping, with a catch on data. We found no large breach of Walmart customer accounts, and paying in the app is no riskier than paying at most big retailers. The weak point is advertising: Walmart's own App Store label says it may use your purchases, identifiers and usage data to track you across other companies' apps and websites. Its regulatory record is modest next to Amazon's but not clean, with a $10 million FTC settlement in 2025 and a Los Angeles County data settlement in 2026. We score it 51/100.

What Walmart's app collects and who sees it

The Walmart: Shopping & Savings app is published by Walmart and rated 4+. Its Apple privacy label is one of the broader ones among shopping apps. Under "Data Used to Track You" it lists purchases, identifiers and usage data. Amazon's label has no such section at all. User ID, device ID, usage and advertising data are also linked to you for third-party advertising.

For the app to work, Walmart links much more to your identity: payment info, precise location, address, photos and videos, purchase history, health data and "sensitive info". Pharmacy, vision and pickup features explain part of this, but it means a single account holds a detailed picture of your household.

Walmart's privacy notice, updated 20 August 2026, says it uses data for targeted advertising. It also sets limits on some features. Face measurements from the virtual glasses try-on are deleted within 48 hours and never sold or shared, and voice is captured only when you press the microphone or use the Sparky assistant.

The Los Angeles County settlement

On 3 August 2026 Los Angeles County announced a pre-litigation settlement with Walmart and Sam's Club. The county said the companies disclosed customers' personal and purchase information to third-party advertising companies, without consent, through tracking tools such as Meta pixels embedded on Walmart's website. Walmart agreed to pay $908,817 in restitution, civil penalties and costs, including a $388,817 fund for people who bought on the website between 1 January 2020 and 20 May 2024, and accepted a permanent injunction. The case concerned the website, which runs the same store as the app, and no court made a finding.

The FTC money transfer case

The largest item on Walmart's record is about scams, not data. In June 2022 the FTC sued Walmart, alleging that between 2013 and 2018 it let scammers use its in-store money transfer services, which it ran partly as an agent for MoneyGram, Western Union and Ria, to take hundreds of millions of dollars from consumers. The FTC said Walmart did not train staff properly or warn customers. After three years of litigation, in which a court twice dismissed one telemarketing claim, Walmart agreed in June 2025 to a $10 million judgment. The order requires it to take timely steps to detect and stop fraud-induced transfers. Customers can start these transfers in the Walmart app, so the order covers an app feature.

For app users the lesson is simple. A stranger who tells you to send money through a store counter, buy gift cards or "verify" an order is running a scam. As the FTC put it, once money is sent, "it's gone for good".

Marketplace sellers and account security

The Walmart app mixes Walmart's own stock with third-party Marketplace sellers. Most listings are fine, but counterfeits and poor-quality electrical goods turn up, as on every large marketplace. Check who the seller is on the product page, and prefer items sold by Walmart for anything electrical, for children or for food.

On security, we found no large breach of customer accounts. Walmart publishes a responsible disclosure notice for security researchers. We could not check its sign-in options this session because Walmart's help pages block automated access. Use a unique password and turn on any extra verification the app offers in your account's security settings.

How to use Walmart more safely

1. Tap "Ask App Not to Track" when iOS asks, and opt out of interest-based ads in your Walmart account's advertising settings.
2. Turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser if you shop on walmart.com. Walmart treats it as an opt-out of sale and sharing.
3. Check the seller on each product page and avoid third-party sellers for chargers, toys and supplements.
4. Never send money or buy gift cards because someone called about an order.

How we scored it

Security (62) is Walmart's strongest factor, held back only because we could not confirm its sign-in protections. Privacy (38) is the weakest: the app's label lists purchases used to track you, and the Los Angeles County settlement shows purchase data reaching advertisers. Regulatory record (50) reflects the $10 million FTC judgment over money transfers, which you can start in the app, and the Los Angeles County order against sharing purchase data with advertisers. Compare PayPal (55), which also tracks users but has buyer protection built in, and Temu (42).