I-751 September 2016 Filers

[Lemon23 400]

3 minutes ago, dealerofhappiness said:

Yes and no. I guess I can agree with the statement that it has to be "connected" to the source of information, however the source is public.

https://egov.uscis.gov/casestatus/mycasestatus.do

When you enter your case number to the official website of USCIS (link above) it send you the "answer" with your case update. The way those apps works is they simply do it for you. Let's say your case number is EAC1700500000 (obviously I am using random number), so what this app will do is enter each case separately from EAC170050000 to EAC1700500500 (they can do maximum 500 at the time). The app entering those cases to the same USCIS website that you do manually, its just the app can enter those numbers way too faster and then compile the results in informative manner. Results from those apps is just as legit as results from USCIS site (and yes, many people reported that USCIS website having delay up to two weeks)

Well, apps cannot be connected to the website just to gathered information, apps is different platform than website but they can pull up information in one database but it cannot be connected to each other since they are both different platform.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

8 minutes ago, Lemon23 said:

Well, apps cannot be connected to the website just to gathered information, apps is different platform than website but they can pull up information in one database but it cannot be connected to each other since they are both different platform.

You are absolutely free to not use any apps if you believe apps do not have the capability to display information from websites. 

[Lemon23 400]

Just now, Ketsuban said:

You are absolutely free to not use any apps if you believe apps do not have the capability to display information from websites. 

I'm just trying to warned people here for security reason not to use any apps specially if its not officially release by USCIS. Better be safe than sorry because hackers and scammers are every where.

[dealerofhappiness 10]

1 minute ago, Lemon23 said:

Well, apps cannot be connected to the website just to gathered information, apps is different platform than website but they can pull up information in one database but it cannot be connected to each other since they are both different platform.

I think we are going way off topic here, but I strongly disagree with this statement (I actually work in IT for a very large corporation)

Bottom line is apps were created for people convenience and they are free... hard to complain about something that is free.

Also, I am not sure what is the security concerns here? EAC numbers is public information that you cannot really do anything with, its not a social security number....

Its easy to get real case number that actually belongs to someone - example:

EAC1700551261 - now lets assume I am a bad guy (I promise I am not) what can I get out of it? I can see that this is a case for removal of conditions that been accepted by vermont office on October 6. Thats pretty much all i can get..... No names, no addresses, no possibility to change anything..... This information is only valuable to its owner who is tracking his case, for everybody else this is absolutely useless. 

This is exactly the reason that case tracker is public information, you don't need to enter any passwords or prove your identity, that is why those apps can "connect" without any issues at all. 

From technology prospective those apps extremely simple and straightforward (probably created by fellow applicant who was frustrated with the wait times)

[Lemon23 400]

6 minutes ago, dealerofhappiness said:

I think we are going way off topic here, but I strongly disagree with this statement (I actually work in IT for a very large corporation)

Bottom line is apps were created for people convenience and they are free... hard to complain about something that is free.

Also, I am not sure what is the security concerns here? EAC numbers is public information that you cannot really do anything with, its not a social security number....

Its easy to get real case number that actually belongs to someone - example:

EAC1700551261 - now lets assume I am a bad guy (I promise I am not) what can I get out of it? I can see that this is a case for removal of conditions that been accepted by vermont office on October 6. Thats pretty much all i can get..... No names, no addresses, no possibility to change anything..... This information is only valuable to its owner who is tracking his case, for everybody else this is absolutely useless. 

This is exactly the reason that case tracker is public information, you don't need to enter any passwords or prove your identity, that is why those apps can "connect" without any issues at all. 

From technology prospective those apps extremely simple and straightforward (probably created by fellow applicant who was frustrated with the wait times)

Well for me, my case number is valuable and secret information that should not be just given to anyone. Apps can be connected to the website thru API connection but should be allowed first by both parties and I dont think USCIS allows these apps developer to connect to their API. So that is why these apps are not safe to use specially not release by USCIS.

Edited October 6, 2017 by Lemon23

[dealerofhappiness 10]

1 minute ago, Lemon23 said:

Well for me, my case number is valuable and secret information that should not be just given to anyone. Apps can be connected to the website thru API connection but should be allowed by allowed first by both parties and I dont think USCIS allows these apps developer to connect to their API. So that is why these apps are not safe to use specially not release by USCIS.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

12 minutes ago, Lemon23 said:

Well for me, my case number is valuable and secret information that should not be just given to anyone. Apps can be connected to the website thru API connection but should be allowed first by both parties and I dont think USCIS allows these apps developer to connect to their API. So that is why these apps are not safe to use specially not release by USCIS.

Yet uscis released a website where you can type in any random combo of numbers and view someone else's case. If it was valuable and secret, as someone else said, you'd need to prove your identity to view your case status. 

[Lemon23 400]

1 minute ago, Ketsuban said:

Yet uscis released a website where you can type in any random combo of numbers and view someone else's case. If it was valuable and secret, as someone else said, you'd need to prove your identity to view your case status. 

Regardless, that is why you're getting blocked to use the app when you track different case number because technically its not allowed, and your IP address was being monitored because it's illegal tracking someone else's case number even for viewing purposes or not.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

2 minutes ago, Lemon23 said:

Regardless, that is why you're getting blocked to use the app when you track different case number because technically its not allowed, and your IP address was being monitored because it's illegal tracking someone else's case number even for viewing purposes or not.

It's more to prevent DDOS attacks. If it was illegal to view someone else's case then they wouldn't make it possible. I'm looking at someone else's case right now, it's like watching paint dry. 

[Lemon23 400]

4 minutes ago, Ketsuban said:

It's more to prevent DDOS attacks. If it was illegal to view someone else's case then they wouldn't make it possible. I'm looking at someone else's case right now, it's like watching paint dry. 

Well just continue using it at the end you will never know what will happen, I do hope nothings happens. For me i will not use any apps or browse any site that is not officially release by the institution, better be safe than sorry at the end. Scammers and hackers can do anything even they only have one piece of information. - IT Security. 

Edited October 6, 2017 by Lemon23

[dealerofhappiness 10]

8 minutes ago, Lemon23 said:

Regardless, that is why you're getting blocked to use the app when you track different case number because technically its not allowed, and your IP address was being monitored because it's illegal tracking someone else's case number even for viewing purposes or not.

 This reminds me of my wife. She likes to "teach" me how some cars are better than others because of the color... Still love her though...

I am 100% agree with Ketsuban, if you suspicious that it is not safe, you don't have to use it. And it is locking your IP(temporarily) only when you do over 1000 checks in a short period of time, just to prevent overload of servers, nothing else.

This information is not private and therefor not protected.  EAC1700551261 is a real case number, you can take a look at it. Please let me know if you can "use" any information from it.....

[TaniaC 8]

I might be wrong, but I always believed that the only safety concern with the apps is what exactly this particular app can access on your phone. For example, Google maps can access my accounts on the device, read my contacts (what for?) and so on, yet it is considered "safe" and almost every smartphone user happily plays with it. As for the Aries USCIS Case Tracker app, it does not even remotely have so much freedom with my phone content as Goggle Maps. I always check what content an app wants to access when I install it, and usually go for less gready apps if there is an alternative.

[Lemon23 400]

Just now, dealerofhappiness said:

 This reminds me of my wife. She likes to "teach" me how some cars are better than others because of the color... Still love her though...

I am 100% agree with Ketsuban, if you suspicious that it is not safe, you don't have to use it. And it is locking your IP(temporarily) only when you do over 1000 checks in a short period of time, just to prevent overload of servers, nothing else.

This information is not private and therefor not protected.  EAC1700551261 is a real case number, you can take a look at it. Please let me know if you can "use" any information from it.....

Sorry I will not use it for security reason. It's not safe and I dont know who is the developer of that apps. You can free to use it though but not me sorry. LOL!

[Lemon23 400]

5 minutes ago, TaniaC said:

I might be wrong, but I always believed that the only safety concern with the apps is what exactly this particular app can access on your phone. For example, Google maps can access my accounts on the device, read my contacts (what for?) and so on, yet it is considered "safe" and almost every smartphone user happily plays with it. As for the Aries USCIS Case Tracker app, it does not even remotely have so much freedom with my phone content as Goggle Maps. I always check what content an app wants to access when I install it, and usually go for less gready apps if there is an alternative.

I would say it's not safe specially if the developer of the apps is unknown.

[dealerofhappiness 10]

44 minutes ago, Lemon23 said:

I would say it's not safe specially if the developer of the apps is unknown.

Would you happen to know who is the developer of visajourney.com?

Yet, you provided them with your name, location, email, password (that most of the people reusing the same password for many logins) and VJ "developers" able to see your IP which in 2017 can pretty much be equal to your exact address (unless you are using a lot of professional software to hide/change your IP)... 

Security is important, but lets not make it to the point where it is in the way of convenience.

Hackers don't want our case numbers.... I can barely even look at my own, have been staring at it for over a year now.

 

For me this app brings a little calm to my anxiety... everyday I check 500 cases around mine and everyday I see changes... one by one applications being approved. I personally very grateful that this app exist and even free.

 

I am sorry for going so far away from what this forum intended to be, but I also wanted to mention that to publish application in the apple app store you have to go through a lot of checks, and apple will look at the code to see what the app is doing and what information it is collecting. It is not easy at all to get your app trough all the checks. With this in mind, there is no other way to install anything on your apple device rather than "breaking" it illegally which has to be done by owner of the device... so if you installing it like any person would from app store, you are 100% safe.

I cannot comment regarding android devices, because I don't have experience with them, but something tells me that it goes through very similar security checks.

 

I understand that you don't want to use it, but please don't confuse people by saying that it is not safe, because it is absolutely not true.