There are signs that the wait may be over. It seems that Google has finally decided to start updating its main iOS applications. The company released an update for You Tube this weekend, more than two months after its last update.
As explained by 9to5Google, which detected the update, it’s normal for Google to stop updating apps in December because of the holidays. Updates are not published during the holidays because there may not be as many employees as usual to correct any problems related to them. However, updates generally resume in early January. This has not happened this year, however, and a vast most of Google’s iOS apps haven’t been updated since December, the outlet said.
Speculation immediately arose, of course, about a possible reason behind the delay. The popular theory was related to that of Apple new privacy labels, which aims to inform users what data the apps collect and whether that data is linked to or used to track them. Apple released the labels in December, and developers are now required to include them to update their applications and submit new applications.
That theory doesn’t work for YouTube, which already had labels before Google’s update this weekend. 9to5Google claims that Youtube Music, YouTube TV, and YouTube Studio all had their labels in early February. However, none of these applications have received an update in months.
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Google also appeared and said that the delays are not due to Apple’s privacy tags. In January, it started releasing more labels on its apps and also published a privacy blog who mentioned the labels.
“As Google’s iOS apps are updated with new features or to fix bugs, you’ll see updates on our lists of app pages that include the new Privacy Details for the app,” wrote Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, vice president of product, privacy. “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.”
Gizmodo contacted Google to ask why other important iOS apps have yet to receive updates and when to expect them. We will update this blog if we receive a response.
Does this mean that Google is not concerned about Apple’s new privacy labels? Oh no. Google’s main business is advertising, and there is no doubt that they talked about record companies. However, in this case, it is probably safe to say that the delay in updates is related to something else. Maybe even something completely ordinary.