Two weeks ago, a Fast Company pointed out that Google has not suspected the vast majority of its iOS apps since December 7, the day before Apple required developers to provide a privacy report for each app available on the App Store. Following that report, Google responded quickly and said it would begin updating its iOS applications with privacy labels as early as the same week, the week of January 4.
Two weeks later, Google has yet to update the vast majority of its iOS apps with these privacy labels, including its popular apps like Gmail and YouTube. Even though Google has no bad intentions, this scattered approach is leaving users confused and concerned.
According to the data collected by 9to5Mac, the first Google app with the app’s new privacy label on the App Store is Google Authenticator. This is Google’s popular 2-step verification app and was last updated on December 7th.
Google Authenticator has a relatively short privacy label, with the company saying that location data, user content, identifiers and diagnostic data can be linked to the user.
Google Translate has also been updated with the new privacy label on the App Store:
As of the date of publication, these appear to be the only two Google apps updated with privacy labels so far, more than a month after the requirement went into effect.
Interestingly, some apps, like Google Slides, have been updated since December 7, but they still don’t show the app’s privacy labels. The Google Slides app, for example, was updated on December 14, but Google has yet to provide details about its privacy practices for the App Store. The Socratic by Google educational app was updated on December 15 and also does not show privacy details.
The original Fast Company report suggested that Google is avoiding updating its iOS apps due to the new requirement that all apps show these privacy labels. Apple began requiring developers to submit their new privacy information to the App Store to update their applications on December 8. The app privacy labels themselves became visible to users on December 14, coinciding with the release of iOS 14.3.
Following the Fast Company report, Google issued a statement to TechCrunch, promising to start rolling out app privacy labels for their apps that week, the week of January 4, or next week. Since then, Google has not kept that promise and has not updated any additional apps with the app’s privacy labels since.
Google also included a little information about these privacy labels in a blog post last week, again saying that privacy labels are coming, but without a specific timeline:
As Google’s iOS apps are updated with new features or to fix bugs, you’ll see updates on our app page listings that include the new App Privacy Details. These labels represent the maximum categories of data that can be collected – that is, if you use all the features and services available in the application. The data you provide to Google products provides useful services to you, and you can always control your privacy settings by visiting your Google Account or going directly to the Google products you use on iOS.
Take from 9to5Mac
Apple said there is a lot of important information that developers should remember when preparing the app’s “nutrition labels” for their apps:
- Developers must identify all possible data collections and uses, even if certain data is collected and used only in limited situations.
- Responses from developers must follow the App Store review guidelines and all applicable laws.
- Developers are responsible for keeping their responses accurate and up to date. If your practices change, update your responses on the App Store Connect.
The purpose of this data is not to embarrass developers, but to give users more insight into how their data is being used. If a user visits the App Store and finds that certain apps collect more data than others, they can make more informed decisions about which apps to use.
There are several reasons why Google may be avoiding adding these labels, and not all of them are malicious.
First, it is common for developers to take a break from updating apps during the holidays, even large companies like Google. For example, Chrome went from December 2019 to February 2020 without an update last year during the holiday.
On the other hand, Apple announced that these “nutrition labels” for the app’s privacy would be required in November, so Google could have planned for them to be ready in time and before the holidays.
Internally at Google, the task of adding the labels is likely to fall on each individual application team, with Google providing only general guidance. This may be part of the reason that Google Translate and Google Authenticator added privacy labels, but not other applications.
Finally, you must ask yourself how Google’s single account system will affect these labels. Virtually all Google apps require you to sign in with the same Google login, which affects privacy practices and makes it easier for Google to link data from different apps.
Again, my point is not to say that Google is being malicious in taking a dispersed approach to launching app privacy labels. As more apps add the labels and the longer Google takes, the more users will become suspicious when they see the “no data provided” label in the App Store listings for Google apps.
Apple is taking an industry-leading approach to keeping users aware of how their data is used. Application privacy labels are only part of that approach, and Apple will soon be launching additional privacy controls related to cross-application tracking.
The prospect of Google’s decision to take a slow and dispersed approach to launching app privacy labels is bad, even though Google’s intentions may not be. Ideally, labels should arrive sooner or later, so that users know more about how their data is being used.
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