Google finally added Apple App Store privacy labels to its Gmail app, almost a month after publishing an article asking why it was taking so long (via MacRumors) The app is the second major Google app to receive the labels, after they were added to YouTube when it was updated earlier this month.
So, how is it? Well, it’s up to you to decide. The app apparently shares its approximate location and user ID with advertisers, as well as information about its interaction with ads. However, according to the privacy label, it does not collect your name, physical address or phone number (although, as an email client, Gmail obviously does collect your email address). Location data is also used for analysis and there are some features of the app that will also request it. If you want to see the full label, there is a video below that can be viewed.
On the other hand, here is the privacy information from the app for another email app, hey.
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It’s important to note that Apple’s app privacy tags are intended to show all the things that the app it could access, not what information this application will Access. For example, an app can only use location data when it needs to show a map, but the privacy labels don’t make that clear – it’s just a used / unused binary. In addition, the information on the labels is sent by the company itself and Apple makes no promises about its accuracy.
Strangely, Google added the labels without actually updating the Gmail app, even though it was literally begging for an update (because of a fun bug). The last time Google updated the iOS app was two months ago.
So far, other major Google apps like Maps, Photos, Docs and Chrome have yet to receive the labels. But the fact that both YouTube and Gmail added them indicates that Google is starting to implement them in its larger applications.