Last month, Apple introduced a new privacy section on the App Store to inform users about some of the types of data that apps can collect and whether that data is linked to or used to track them. Developers must provide this information to Apple when submitting new applications and application updates to the App Store since December 8, 2020.
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Curiously, Fast Company noted that Google has not yet updated any of its iPhone and iPad applications since Apple’s requirement came into effect, with applications like Gmail, Chrome and YouTube having been last updated on December 7, 2020 or earlier. As a result, all Google apps still say “No details provided” in the new privacy section on the App Store, with a warning that “the developer will be required to provide privacy details when submitting their next app update.”
By comparison, the report notes that Google updated several of its Android applications after December 8, including Google Maps on December 14, Google Duo on December 15, Gmail on December 16 and YouTube on December 21 .
Google has not yet commented on the report, so the reason for the lack of recent iOS app updates has not been confirmed, but Fast Company makes the reasonable assumption that Google may be trying to postpone the disclosure of its privacy label information, especially after the negative attention that Facebook received on its very extensive privacy label.
Google will certainly have to update its iOS apps eventually, so it will be interesting to see what the privacy labels reveal about the company’s data collection practices.