THE apps on your phone are secretly working together to spy on your life in minute detail, researchers have warned.

Experts from Virginia Tech University analysed more than 100,000 pieces of Android software and found "thousands of pairs of apps" which talk to each other to share private information.

3 A Samsung Android smartphone. The apps in this image were not mentioned in the study Credit: Getty Images

3 Hackers could steal vast amounts of information from your smartphone Credit: Alamy

This data could include your bank details, allowing cyber-thieves to empty your bank account.

Apps could also expose details of people's movements using information gathered by their smartphone's location tracker.

This data lets firms bombard you with adverts based upon where you've been and what you've searched for.

But it would also be useful to cyber-criminals who want to steal your identity or scam you out of money.

The information could include passwords, for instance, which lets crook get access to your phone and run riot.

"The apps we regularly use on our phones to organise lunch dates, make convenient online purchases, and communicate the most intimate details of our existence have

secretly been colluding to mine our information," the university wrote in a statement.

Associate professor Daphne Yao and assistant professor Gang Wang built a a computer program which allowed them to analyse more Android apps than any researchers have ever done before.

They spent three years inspecting a total of 110,150 apps.

"Of the apps we studied, we found thousands of pairs of apps that could potentially leak sensitive phone or personal information and allow unauthorised apps to gain access to privileged data," she added.

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They found that the biggest security risks were "apps that pertained to personalisation of ringtones, widgets, and emojis".

One flashlight app famously "worked in tandem with a receiver app to divulge a user's information such as contacts, geolocation, or provide access to the web".

Wang said it was high time the app industry tightened up its rules to stop apps working together to spy on users.

"App security is a little like the Wild West right now with few regulations," he said.

"We hope this paper will be a source for the industry to consider re-examining their software development practices and incorporate safeguards on the front end."

St John Deakins, CEO of a tech firm CitizenMe, told The Sun Online that apps collected a truly scary amount of data about users, which was often shared.

"Most apps are free so they earn money by harvesting data," he said.

He said private companies had access to your contacts, the pictures on your phone, information about your location and even the number of steps you walk every day.

This information allows advertisers to target their campaigns, perhaps sending gym membership ads to people who walk a lot and have several fitness apps on their mobile.

3 Hackers are always looking for ways to crack into your phone - and advertisers are always looking to grab your attention Credit: Getty Images

Deakins, whose firm allows users to sell their own data to advertisers, also claimed that telephone firms could follow people by working out when they get on and off the tube based on whether their phone has a signal.

This information is very useful to advertisers, who are willing to buy any information which might help their adverts reach a customer who's likely to be interested in them.

"If someone steals your data and your privacy, they are basically stealing money from you," he said.

Experts recently warned that Britain's airports and nuclear power stations are under threat from ISIS hackers who have found a way to bypass safety checks.