With its first update in more than two months, the YouTube app for the iOS system added privacy labels and started displaying the data it collects from users.
In this way, the Google video social network became the first high-profile app to comply with the new privacy policies of the Apple App Store.
In December 2020, Apple announced that it would require developers to disclose the privacy practices of all their applications in order to approve their updates.
The measure seeks that users know what data they share on the internet. It is expected that during 2021 Apple’s operating system will even allow deciding these permissions by the application.
What data YouTube collects on iOS
The latest version of YouTube corresponded to December 7, 2020, but the lack of update had caught his attention since the app usually does it every one or two weeks.
According to the update, these are the data YouTube collects and the goal to do so:
Data used to track you
- Contact information: physical address, email, telephone number.
- Identifiers: User ID, Device ID.
YouTube also shows a series of data that can be used for third-party advertising, the developer himself, data analysis, product customization, browsing history, app functionality and other purposes:
- Location: third-party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, data analysis, product customization, app functionality, and other purposes.
- Contact details: third-party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, data analysis and product customization.
- Contacts: product customization and app functionality.
- User Content: product customization and app functionality.
- Search history: third party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, data analysis, product customization, and app functionality.
- Browsing history: third-party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, data analysis, product customization and other purposes.
- Identifiers: third party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, data analysis, product customization, app functionality, and other purposes.
- Usage data: third-party advertising, developer advertising or marketing, data analysis, product customization, and app functionality.
- Diagnosis: data analysis and functionality of the app, other purposes.
- Purchases: developer advertising or marketing, data analysis, product customization, and app functionality.
- User Content: data analysis and product customization.
- Other data: data analysis and product customization.
What’s missing from Google on iOS
Owned by Google, Waze also recently updated its iOS app, adding privacy information as required by Apple.
However, updates to other major company apps such as Google, Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Meet, which have been updated since Apple’s requirement went into effect, still remain.