Concern: Installing Shopify apps may expose stores to data and security risks because many request access to sensitive information (orders, customers, product inventories, costs, sales data).
Clarification from replies: The risk is real. Some apps have turned rogue, visibly redirecting visitors to other sites. More worrying are less visible behaviors, where apps could misuse or sell accessed data to third parties without an obvious trace.
Scope of access: Access often includes confidential operational metrics (e.g., cost of goods, inventory levels, sales performance), raising competitive and privacy concerns, especially with lesser-known providers.
Outcomes and actions: No concrete mitigation steps or official guidance were provided in the thread. No decisions made.
Status: Discussion remains open; the original request for clarification stands. Key unresolved question: how to evaluate and safely grant app permissions, particularly for apps from unknown developers.
Summarized with AI on December 16.
AI used: gpt-5.
If this topic has already been discussed somewhere, I apologize, but I couldn’t find it.
As a beginner in Shopify, I have an observation and concern, possibly resulting from ignorance: does installing various add-ons and applications in the store expose the store to unwanted activities? I have noticed that virtually all applications require access to confidential data, such as orders and customers.
If it is a proven application from a well-known provider, then we can trust that it is not simply a way to extract data, but most solutions are of unknown origin.
I’ve seen a lot of apps which turned rogue and all of a sudden decided to redirect visitors to a different site, but at least, this behaviour is visible and can be tracked down.
You never can tell what an app does with the data you gave it access to, like product inventories or cost of goods. Or your actual sales data.
This information can easily be sold to 3rd parties.
To be honest, this concern made me uninstall an app I had been using during development. As an app developer myself, I haven’t configured any unnecessary permission requirements. my app only needs access to basic store information and order data.
However, when my app went live and I installed it on my own admin account for testing, I was surprised to see that it requested access to far more information than my app actually requires. Based on this, I believe this may be related to Shopify’s default setup or permission handling. I’m planning to reach out to better understand what caused this, as my app is intended to request only the minimal, essential access.
I’ve personally built a custom form app, and by nature, this type of app is designed to collect information from customers.
Shopify requires certain customer data to be synced back to the merchant’s store—for example, customer profile information—so that all customer data can be centrally stored and managed within Shopify. Because of this, the app doesn’t just request the read_customers permission, but also write_customers.
The app also needs read_orders access. For use cases like product support tickets or warranty claims, we want customers to be able to select an order from an auto-filled list instead of manually typing an order number, which reduces errors and improves the user experience. By default, apps can only access a customer’s orders from the past 60 days. In our case, we submitted a request to Shopify for extended order access to support longer warranty and support timelines.
Hopefully this helps explain why some apps legitimately need access to customer and order data.
With that said, you should always review an app provider’s Terms of Service to understand what store data is being accessed, why it’s needed, and how the app handles and protects your data.