Soundcore, Anker’s audio brand, has mostly lived in the budget-to-midrange world, but with its new Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, it’s aiming at the big guys. The two new earbuds — the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max — use Anker’s new Thus chip, which has more processing power than previous Soundcore earbuds to try and compete with the chips found in Apple, Sony, and Bose products. And that extra processing power gives the Liberty 5 Pro the best in-call noise canceling I’ve heard in any earbuds.
Technology
Are insurance apps watching you?
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Most people download an insurance app for a simple reason. They want a discount. Maybe it is a safe driving program. Maybe it is a wellness incentive. Either way, the pitch sounds simple. Share a little data and save a little money. But what exactly are you sharing?
Jan emailed us with a question that many people have probably wondered about:
“To get lower insurance, they have the app, and I use Travels, but I know other ones have it. When I opened it up, I noticed that it looks like they can access your health information and all kinds of things, and I don’t know if there’s a way to prevent them from following everything that’s on there. I am sure you have an opinion on this, and if it’s worth the 10% off from the get-go, and the following year.”
Jan, you’re not alone. Many insurance companies now offer programs that promise lower premiums if you install their app and agree to share certain types of data. That can include how you drive, where you travel and, in some cases, limited health or fitness information if the app connects to systems like Apple Health. The key point is that these programs are usually optional, and the data sharing is part of the trade.
TOP 20 APPS TRACKING YOU EVERY DAY
Insurance apps may offer lower premiums, but many also collect location, driving behavior and, in some cases, limited health data. (Neil Godwin/Future via Getty Images)
The good news is that you can often limit what these apps can see. The bigger question is whether the discount is worth the access.
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How insurance apps track your driving and health data
CyberGuy has previously covered telematics programs where insurers track driving behavior through smartphone apps or connected car data. Those programs monitor things like speed, braking patterns and the time of day you drive. In another report, we explained how your car may be sharing driving data with insurance companies.
We’ve also reported on how apps collect and sell personal data, including sensitive health information many users assume stays private. What has not always been discussed together is the broader pattern. Insurance companies are increasingly using smartphone apps to gather behavior data about both how you drive and how you live. Your phone becomes the measurement tool. For you, that raises a simple question. How much personal data are you willing to trade for a discount?
What data insurance apps can track about you
The details vary depending on the program. However, many insurance apps collect several types of information.
For driving programs, apps may monitor:
- Location
- Speed
- Braking and acceleration
- Time of day you drive
- Motion patterns detected by your phone
The goal is to calculate a driving score. Safer drivers may receive a discount when the policy renews. Some insurance apps also ask for access to other phone data, such as Motion & Fitness or camera permissions.
On the health side, programs may connect to health and fitness platforms. If you grant permission, the app may read data such as:
- Steps or activity levels
- Workout information
- Limited health metrics stored in Apple Health
It is important to understand that apps typically cannot see this data unless you grant access during setup. Still, many people click through permission screens quickly and later wonder what they agreed to share.
Why insurance app tracking raises privacy concerns
Location data alone can reveal a surprising amount about a person’s life. It can show where you live, where you work and where you travel every day. Driving patterns can also reveal how often you are on the road at night or during busy traffic periods.
Health and fitness data can paint an even more personal picture. That does not mean insurers are secretly spying on everything in your phone. But the more permissions you grant, the more insight the app may gain into your routines and habits.
That is why we encourage you to review app permissions carefully.
Are insurance tracking apps optional?
In most cases, yes. Insurance companies typically frame these programs as voluntary discount opportunities. If you enroll, you agree to share certain data that helps calculate a risk score.
If the data shows safe driving or healthy activity levels, you may receive a discount at renewal. However, if you decide you are uncomfortable with the tracking, you can usually opt out. Just keep in mind that the associated discount may disappear.
BLUE SHIELD EXPOSED 4.7M PATIENTS’ HEALTH DATA TO GOOGLE
Drivers looking for discounts through insurance apps are being urged to review app permissions and understand what personal data they are sharing. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How to limit what an insurance app can access
The good news for Jan and anyone else wondering about this is that you can adjust permissions on your phone. These controls exist on both iPhone and Android devices. A smart approach is to review every permission the app requests and only allow what is truly necessary.
Limit location tracking
On iPhone:
- Go to Settings
- Tap Privacy & Security
- Click Location Services
Find the insurance app and adjust its access. You can often set location access to:
On Android:
Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer
- Go to Settings
- Tap Location
- Click App permissions
or
- Go to Settings
- Tap Security and Privacy
- Tap More privacy settings at the very bottom
- Click Permission Manager
- Tap Location
Find the insurance app and choose a more limited option, such as:
- Allow only while using the app
- Don’t allow
These settings help prevent constant background location tracking.
Check health data access
If an insurance app connects to Apple Health or Google Health Connect, you can manage that separately.
On iPhone:
- Go to Settings
- Scroll down to the bottom and tap Apps
- Tap Health
- Click Data Access & Devices
Select the insurance app to see what information it can read. You can turn off specific categories of health data.
On Android:
Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer
- Go to Settings
- Click Privacy or Security and privacy
- You might have to click More privacy settings at the bottom of the screen
- Tap Health Connect
- Tap App permissions
There, you can see which apps have permission to read or write health and fitness data, such as activity or workout information. You can turn those permissions off if you prefer.
Review other permissions insurance apps request
While you are already in your phone’s Settings reviewing permissions, it is also worth checking access to:
- Camera
- Motion & Fitness
- Contacts
Only allow the permissions the app truly needs to function. This follows a simple security principle called least privilege. Give an app the minimum access it needs to work. Not every permission it asks for. For example, a driving app may need motion data to measure braking. But it may not need continuous location tracking or access to health records. By limiting permissions, you reduce how much information the app collects.
Is the discount worth it?
This brings us back to Jan’s question. Is a 10% discount worth the trade? For some people, the answer is yes. If you are comfortable sharing driving data and the program is transparent about how it works, the savings can add up. For others, the trade may feel too intrusive. The most important thing is understanding what the app can access and deciding whether the benefit outweighs the data you share. A discount can be helpful. But privacy has value too.
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Telematics and wellness apps promise insurance discounts, but the tradeoff may include access to detailed data about how you drive and live. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Pro tip: Reduce how much of your data is available online
Insurance apps are only one way companies can collect information about you. Data brokers also gather location patterns, behavioral details, and personal information from apps and online activity. Using a data removal service can help reduce how much of that information is available online.
While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.
Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting CyberGuy.com.
Get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web: CyberGuy.com.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Insurance apps reflect a bigger shift in how companies assess risk. Instead of relying only on traditional factors like age or claims history, insurers can now measure behavior through the device in your pocket. That can reward safe drivers and active lifestyles. It can also create new privacy questions that many of you never expected to face when you downloaded an app. Jan’s instinct to question what the app could access was exactly right. Before accepting a discount, take a few minutes to review permissions and decide what level of tracking you are comfortable with. Your phone holds a lot of personal information. It is worth making sure you stay in control of it.
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Here is the question for you: Would you trade detailed data about your driving or health for a lower insurance bill? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Previously, the highest-priced Soundcore earbuds (not counting the sleep buds) were the Liberty 4 Pro at $150, but the Liberty 5 Pro are $170 and the Liberty 5 Pro Max are $230. That’s reaching into AirPods Pro 3 territory. Price differences within a product line usually mean different earbud designs, like the open-ear AirPods 4 with ANC versus the sealed AirPods Pro 3. But the Liberty 5 Pro and 5 Pro Max earbuds are exactly the same. They have the same chip, 9.2mm drivers, microphone array, ANC performance, sound profile, battery life, IP55 rating, and overall features. The only difference is the case.
$170
The Good
- Incredible call quality
- Great ANC
- Useful case screen
The Bad
- Default sound profile needs tweaking
The 5 Pro case has an angled 0.96-inch TFT screen on the front that can be used to change settings like ANC, sound profiles, speak-to-chat, and Dolby head tracking. Everything that can be done on the screen can be done in the Soundcore app too, so it’s just preference if you want to take out the case or your phone.
The 1.78-inch AMOLED screen for the 5 Pro Max case is on its sliding top. In addition to the capabilities of the 5 Pro case, you can adjust the screen brightness or change the wallpaper, as well as access a feature that sets the 5 Pro Max apart from its less-expensive sibling: a microphone and an AI note-taking app. You can record audio directly to the case, which has 357MB of storage, then transfer it to your phone where you can generate a transcription and summary in the Soundcore app. (It does require a Soundcore account.)
The file can be edited in the Soundcore app or exported (audio as an MP3, and the transcript and summary as .txt, Markdown, .docx, or PDF file). The transcription can differentiate between different speakers and in my testing I found it to be very accurate, both with who was speaking and with what they were saying. If you’re someone who needs to record classes or meetings regularly it’s a useful feature, especially since it doesn’t require your headphones to be in. But beyond the larger screen, it’s the only major thing that sets the 5 Pro Max apart from the 5 Pro.
The earbuds look similar to the Bose Ultra Earbuds with a wide, chunky outer body, but they don’t feel that way in the ear. As opposed to the bulbous housing of the Bose, the Liberty 5’s housing slims down, allowing for a better fit while also making them easier to hold onto. They’re comfortable and feel very secure, and I was never concerned they would fall out, even when jumping around.
Out of the box, the Liberty 5 sound profile is on the bassy side, causing vocals — especially male vocals — to sound muddy. Snare hits sound dull and there’s sparkle missing from high-end sounds. By choosing your favorite sound clip tuning from a series of seven examples, you can adjust the earbuds to your preferences (there’s also an 8-band EQ if you’d rather use that). It fixed the issues I had with Soundcore’s default profile. There was still good bass response, but the lower mids were cleaned up and the high mids were boosted a bit, causing the whole sound to open up. Nick Drake’s acoustic guitar in “Pink Moon” shimmers more, as do the piano octaves, and his voice doesn’t get swallowed up by the lower guitar register as his voice descends at the end of the chorus vocal line. Compared to the AirPods Pro 3 my Soundcore profile was still heavier on the bass and didn’t have the same high-end response, but I enjoyed my music listening just as much. The Liberty 5 Pro support LDAC for high-res audio from devices that use the codec.
Adaptive noise-canceling performance is comparable to the AirPods Pro 3, and for $80 less, which is great. The Liberty 5 Pro let in a little bit more midrange than the AirPods, but it’s a very small difference. They ably handle low-end drones and will work well for long flights.
The most remarkable feature of the Liberty 5 Pro series, though, is its voice call capability. I have never heard a pair of earbuds or headphones handle ambient noise on a call this well. One time, my very enthusiastic son sang and yelled while jumping up and down in front of me and the person on the other end of the call heard none of it. During another call, arborists fed tree branches into a wood chipper right outside our open apartment window. The person on the other end had no idea.
I have a friend who’s also an audio reviewer, and I call him regularly to test call clarity on headphones and earbuds. He can’t remember the last time I sounded as natural on a call. And this was while a bunch of traffic, with some emergency vehicles, drove past as I walked the neighborhood. To see how they compare to the AirPods Pro 3, I would switch the earbuds without telling him which I was wearing, and he consistently said the Apple buds sounded muddy and more compressed.
The Liberty 5 Pro buds have a voice-control mode that responds quickly, although it’s not consistent when there’s conversation around you. I tried toggling between noise cancellation modes while my wife was on a Zoom call in the same room, and if she was talking I’d need to speak uncomfortably loudly for modes to change. What’s interesting — and a bit disconcerting — is that there’s no wake word needed. So instead of listening for just an activation phrase, it’s listening for 11 different possible phrases, including “Play Music,” “Volume Up,” “Reject Call,” and “Transparency Mode.”
For the call clarity alone, the Liberty 5 Pro series is an impressive step forward. If you mainly use your earbuds for calls, they are the best earbuds to get. While the AI recording and transcription on the Liberty 5 Pro Max case is interesting, unless you need it regularly, there’s no reason to spend the extra $60 over the Liberty 5 Pro. They have the same ANC performance, same sound profile — which is really good after using the customization questionnaire — and same incredible call quality. $170 might be more than Soundcore earbuds have been in the past, but the improvement is worth it, and if you’re not concerned with staying in Apple’s, Google’s, or Samsung’s ecosystems, the Liberty 5 Pro are an excellent option.
Photography by John Higgins / The Verge
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Chatting with AI can feel casual until the question gets personal. Maybe you want to ask about a health concern. Maybe you need help understanding a loan. Or maybe you want career advice without feeling like your question is sitting in a data file somewhere.
That is the idea behind Incognito Chat with Meta AI, a new private chat mode Meta says is coming to WhatsApp and the Meta AI app.
According to Meta, the feature creates a temporary AI conversation that is processed in a secure environment and not saved by default. Meta also says no one, including Meta, can read those conversations.
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META MEDICARE SCAM ADS TARGETING SENIORS FACE SCRUTINY
WhatsApp users may soon get a private AI mode as Meta introduces Incognito Chat, designed for temporary conversations that disappear by default. (Anna Barclay/Getty Images)
How Meta AI Incognito Chat works
Meta says Incognito Chat gives you a private space to talk with Meta AI. When you start one, the conversation becomes temporary. Your messages disappear by default, and Meta says the chat is processed in a way that keeps it invisible to anyone else. The big promise is simple: you can ask sensitive questions without leaving behind a saved AI chat history. Meta says the feature uses Private Processing, a system built on WhatsApp’s privacy technology. In plain terms, Meta says your request goes into a protected server environment where the AI can respond without exposing your messages to Meta, WhatsApp or outside parties.
Why this matters for personal AI questions
People already ask AI tools things they may never type into a public search bar. That could include a medical symptom, a financial worry, a relationship issue or a job decision. Those are exactly the kinds of questions where privacy matters most. Incognito Chat is Meta’s answer to a growing concern: AI can be useful, but people may hesitate when the topic feels too sensitive. If Meta’s system works as described, it could make AI feel less risky for those who want help but do not want a permanent record attached to every question.
What makes this different from other incognito modes
Meta is drawing a clear line between its new feature and other “incognito-style” AI modes. The company says some private modes may avoid saving a chat, while the service can still see the question and answer as they move through the system. Meta says Incognito Chat is built differently because conversations are processed in a secure environment that even Meta cannot access. That is a strong claim. It also means users should watch how clearly Meta explains the feature inside WhatsApp and the Meta AI app once it appears. Privacy promises only help when people understand what is happening before they type.
AI DATA CENTERS MAY SOON RIDE OCEAN WAVES
Meta plans to roll out Incognito Chat for WhatsApp and the Meta AI app, promising private AI conversations processed in a secure environment. (Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Sidechat with Meta AI is also coming
Meta also says another WhatsApp feature called Sidechat is planned for the coming months. Sidechat will let Meta AI help inside a WhatsApp chat while using the context of that conversation. Meta says it will be protected by Private Processing and will avoid disrupting the main chat. That could be useful if you want help writing a reply, summarizing a conversation or understanding what people are discussing. However, it also raises a practical question users will want answered clearly: when is AI looking at chat context, and how obvious will that be?
What this means to you
If you use WhatsApp and already ask AI for help, this could make those conversations feel more comfortable. The feature may be especially useful for sensitive questions you do not want stored in a normal AI chat history. It could also help people who avoid AI because they worry their questions are too personal. However, the feature is still rolling out over the coming months. So you may not see it right away. Also, you should wait to see exactly how Meta labels the feature inside the app and what controls users get at launch.
How to use Meta AI Incognito Chat safely
Once Incognito Chat becomes available, treat it as a privacy upgrade, not a magic shield.
1) Check that you are actually in Incognito Chat
Do not assume every Meta AI conversation is private. Look for the Incognito Chat label before asking anything sensitive.
2) Read the “How it works” screen
Meta says Incognito Chat will explain what happens to your messages. Take a moment to read that screen so you know what is private, what disappears and what is not saved.
3) Avoid sharing unnecessary personal details
Even in a private mode, you can often ask a useful question without giving your full name, address, account number or other identifying details.
4) Be careful with medical and financial advice
AI can explain options, but it should not replace a doctor, lawyer or financial professional when the stakes are high.
5) Review disappearing message behavior
Meta says messages are not stored or saved in chat history. Still, check how the feature explains disappearing messages once it appears on your device.
6) Keep WhatsApp updated
New privacy features often depend on the latest app version.
On iPhone: App Store > tap your profile picture > App Updates > look for WhatsApp. If it appears, tap Update. If it does not appear, no WhatsApp update is currently available.
On Android, go to Google Play Store > profile picture > Manage apps & device > Updates available > Update next to WhatsApp. Settings may vary depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer.
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CHINA BLOCKS META AI DEAL OVER SECURITY CONCERNS
Meta says its new Incognito Chat for Meta AI will let WhatsApp users ask sensitive questions in temporary conversations that are not saved by default. (Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Kurt’s key takeaways
AI is becoming the place people go for answers they once saved for a close friend, a search box or a late-night spiral through online forums. That makes privacy a big deal. Meta’s Incognito Chat could be a meaningful step if it gives you a clear, temporary and truly private way to ask sensitive questions. The real test will be how easy it is to find, understand and use.
Would you ask an AI a deeply personal question if the app promised that even the company behind it could not read it? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Its name might be dull and uninspired, but the Philips 24B2D5300 Business Monitor brings a novel feature I’ve never seen on a display before: screens on either side. The design will primarily benefit people who are constantly angling their computer screen so those on both sides of a desk can see it, like a car salesperson walking a buyer through configuration options or a doctor conferring with a patient. But there are some potential co-working applications, too.
Featuring back-to-back 23.8-inch LCD panels with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 at 120 Hz, the monitor can be connected to one or multiple devices using either a pair of power-delivering USB-C ports, or a pair of HDMI ports. In most scenarios it will be connected to a single computer with the same thing mirrored on both sides, but the dual displays can also be used as two extended displays with one side showing public-facing info and the other for private details. Repositioning the monitor could be tricky since it can’t be mounted to an articulated arm, but its base swivels 180-degrees so you can still spin it around to easily double-check what’s displayed on the other side.
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