From Angry Birds to Dictionary.com dozens of mobile applications have accessed sensitive information of phone users, such as their location and contact lists.

Now, a Rutgers University professor is hoping to create more transparency, with a new Android application that alerts users when another application is tracking their location, reports say.

"I want smartphone consumers to be able to make better decisions with respect to their privacy," Janne Lindqvist, a computer engineering professor at Rutgers who built the app, told WHYY.

Though Androids already display an icon when apps are trying to access their location, Rutgers researchers have previously found few people understand what they are seeing, reports computerworld.com.

Instead, Lindqvist's app flashes a banner across the screen telling users their location is being tracked, and provides mobile users with a history of apps that have tracked their location, WHYY reported.

"All apps that access location need to request permission from the Android platform," Lindqvist told computerworld.com in an email. "The problem is that people don't pay attention to these default disclosures."

In fact, Lindqvist produced a study that argued that although 70 percent of mobile users want to know when an application is tracking their location few understand when its happening.

Lindqvist told WHYY he hopes his app will pressure mobile application makers to be more transparent with users. The app is scheduled to be available in the Google Play store over the next few weeks.

"Eventually we would hope that the smartphone platforms would change for the better," he told the station.

MORE EDUCATION COVERAGE

FOLLOW THE STAR-LEDGER: TWITTER • FACEBOOK • GOOGLE+