Apple App Store to Make Data Tracking Disclosure Mandatory After December 8

Apple has asked iOS developers to provide details about the user data their apps and app updates collect. Apple had first announced this mandatory requirement during the iOS 14 unveil at WWDC earlier this year. The developers will have to offer information on the type of data it collects and App Store listings will label this information to help users understand an app’s privacy practices before they download it on any Apple platform. While the iOS 14 release did not see these changes taking effect, the “labels” are expected to show up on App Store listings sometime later this year.

Apple’s Developer site has been updated to mention that developers will have to submit data tracking information for new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8. Once these labels go live, each app’s product page will have information about “some of the data types the app may collect and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them”.

“You’ll need to provide information about your app’s privacy practices, including the practices of third-party partners whose code you integrate into your app, in App Store Connect. This information will be required [in order] to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8, 2020,” the Cupertino giant has cautioned developers.

There are no details on exactly when these labels will go live on the App Store, but Apple mentions that the App Store will help users understand an app’s privacy practices by “later this year”. Developers will have to answer app privacy questions in App Store Connect. The developers will be presented with multiple options and they will have to select suitable answers from there. Apple has asked iOS developers to disclose all of the data “you or your third-party partners collect”, and has duly warned them that they will be “responsible for keeping responses accurate and up to date”.

To help developers further, Apple has mentioned a few criteria where data types is optional to disclose, and all this is mentioned on the Apple Developers site.

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