Can management see what apps are on your phone?

Recently, unionized Delta Pilots discovered that management could see whether TikTok was installed on their personal phones. It’s not just creepy. It’s a violation of their Contract. 

Through their union, Delta Pilots filed a grievance. The resolution process dictated that Delta Pilots’ IT Committee would get a demonstration from management showing what management can see in the Hub app.

That’s the power of a union. And that’s the type of transparency we’re fighting for. A union Contract doesn’t just spell out pay, it also spells out work rules and boundaries — and provides a pathway for making things right when management violates the Contract.

Thanks to ALPA, we now know that there are two types of profiles on the Hub app: personal managed and personal unmanaged.

With a Personal Managed profile, you’re basically installing a mobile device management profile onto your personal device that gives management the ability to see more information than they really need about your device, including IP address, networking, what apps are installed, and potentially location information.

The Personal Unmanaged profile provides the most privacy to any employee using Delta apps by protecting personal information about your device. The only information Delta management can see through the Personal Unmanaged profile is what type of device you have and what Delta apps you have installed. 

Here’s a breakdown of what you should do if you don’t want management to access information on your phone. 

For iOS devices:

• First, deleting the Hub app from your phone won’t delete your profile. If you deleted the app from your phone, reinstall it so you can make these changes.
• Open the Hub app and click Support.
• The second box on the screen will list the devices that use your employee number. Click on one of those devices.
• On the next screen, about halfway down, there’s an area labeled Device Status. Click that, then click Enrollment.
• Find Group ID on the page — it will say either Personal Unmanaged or Personal Managed. If it says Personal Managed, consider going back and removing the profile from the device (steps detailed below).

How to delete a Personal Managed profile from your phone:

• Go to Settings, General, VPN & Device Management.
• Look at the boxes that say Delta Air Lines, click on those, and hit delete.

Once you delete it, you’ll need to go through the process again to set up profiles under Personal Unmanaged.

Non-iOS systems have their own particular steps to follow. You should start by looking up how to remove mobile device management. Generally speaking, you can find this in Settings, then Security. There are usually options for removing the mobile device management profile.

Another general data privacy best practice is to use a separate @delta.com email on your SkyPro iCloud. This is a great way to ensure your personal email says personal, and private. Always do what’s right for you. 

We are grateful to our Delta ALPA pilots for shining a light on this overreach; you can listen to the full podcast here. Now, more than ever, we need to secure our own union so that we can hold Delta Management accountable for gross overreaches such as this. More importantly, winning our union is vital to safeguard our jobs & livelihoods from corporate snooping privacy violations, with a clear accountability process if it is violated.

Sign your card, wear your pin, and connect with a base organizer so we can secure these rights for ourselves, and protect our privacy & careers.