Apple Arcade & Privacy

Apple Arcade is designed to protect your information and enable you to choose what you share.

• We collect your personal information so that we can provide you the content you purchase, download, or want to update.
• We also use information about your account, purchases, and downloads in the App Store and Arcade to offer advertising to ensure that ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks, where available, are relevant to you. You have choices with respect to this advertising, as described below.
• We use information about your gaming activity, purchases, downloads, and other activity in the App Store and Arcade to tailor features and offer personalized recommendations for you. You can opt out of the use of this data for this purpose, as described below.
• To help identify and prevent fraud, information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive, will be used to compute a device trust score when you attempt to subscribe. The submissions are designed so Apple cannot learn the real values on your device. The scores are stored for a fixed time on our servers.
• To find ways to improve the App Store and Arcade, we use information about your App Store browsing, purchases, searches, and downloads. These records are stored with IP address, a random unique identifier (where that arises), and Apple ID when you are signed in to a store.

Apple Arcade is designed from the ground up to protect your privacy. We work hard to collect only the data we need to make your experience better. When we do collect data, we believe it’s important for you to know what we’re collecting and why we need it, so you can make informed choices.

Providing Apple Arcade

Apple uses your personal information to provide the services and features in Apple Arcade. This information includes your account and payment information, which you can access and change in Settings or System Preferences, and your App Store purchase history.

As a convenience for you, Apple Arcade uses iCloud to keep aspects of your experience up to date on all of your devices. For example, Apple Arcade will use iCloud to sync your progress in a game across your devices. You can disable this capability at any time by turning off iCloud for Arcade games in Settings on an iOS or iPadOS device or in System Preferences on a Mac. If a game developer uses iCloud backup, your game progress will still be backed up to iCloud if you have enabled iCloud Backup.

When you sign in to Game Center, Apple will receive your gameplay activity, including scores and achievements, challenges, and multiplayer gameplay. You can learn more about Game Center and privacy by going to Settings > Game Center.

Improving and Personalizing Apple Arcade

Apple collects limited information about the games you play each week associated with your Apple ID. We also collect certain non-personally identifying information about your gameplay activity that is not associated with your Apple ID. We use this information to improve and optimize Apple Arcade for you and others, and to personalize your experience in Apple Arcade and the App Store to help you discover the content that’s most relevant to you. For example, we recommend games that we think will be of interest to you based on games you’ve previously played or purchased in the App Store. Personalization features can be disabled by turning off Personalized Recommendations for your Apple ID in the App Store Settings.

Communicating with You

Apple may use information about your account, such as the Apple products you own and your subscriptions to Apple services, to send you communications about Apple Arcade and other Apple products, services, and offers that may be of interest to you, including Apple One. Your device serial number may be used to check eligibility for service offers. If you purchase an Apple One subscription, we may send you emails and push notifications about the features of each of the services for which you have subscribed. Apple may also use information about your activity within the App Store and Arcade to send you emails and push notifications about new features, content, and offers available in the App Store and Arcade. You can change your email preferences and opt out of receiving these emails by going to appleid.apple.com. To update your notification preferences on iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings > Notifications > App Store.

Sharing with Third Parties

We provide aggregated, non-personally identifying information about gaming activity to Apple Arcade content providers, so that they can assess and improve player engagement with their game.

If your mobile network provider offers Apple Arcade subscriptions and free trials, Apple may check your phone number to determine if you are eligible through a mobile network provider partner. If you signed up through your mobile network provider, your phone number is used to identify your account and to let the mobile network provider know that you have activated your subscription. We will use the phone number associated with your subscription to verify your account at sign in and to connect your Apple Arcade subscription with your account. We also use your phone number to request cancellation of your subscription with your mobile network provider at your request.

Data Collection by Third-Party Content Providers

Content providers that provide Arcade games are required to obtain your permission to collect your personal information. Content providers may use your personal information only for the purposes they state when obtaining your permission. You should review the Apple Arcade content providers’ terms, privacy policies, and practices to understand how they collect and use your data.

Advertising

If the Personalized Ads setting is turned on, Apple’s advertising platform may use your information to serve ads that are more relevant to you. We may use information about the Arcade apps you download to ensure that ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks are relevant. If you do not want to receive ads targeted to your interests from Apple’s advertising platform, you can choose to turn off Personalized Ads. Turning off Personalized Ads will prevent Apple from using your information for ad targeting. It may not decrease the number of ads you receive, but the ads may be less relevant to you.

Learn more about Apple Advertising & Privacy at support.apple.com/kb/HT205223.

Learn how to opt out of personalized ads on the App Store, Apple News, and Stocks at support.apple.com/kb/HT202074.

Retention

We retain personal information associated with your transactions, downloads, and gameplay activity in Apple Arcade only for as long as we have a business need, contractual obligation, or legal requirement. Some information, such as subscription purchase history but not your stored card details, may be retained as business records even after you close your account or unsubscribe from Apple Arcade.

Family Sharing

When you subscribe to Apple Arcade, the subscription is available to the other members of your Family. With Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time, you can limit time spent in specific apps and block features on your child’s device. You can also restrict the settings on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch for explicit content, purchases and downloads, and privacy. If you do not want to share an Arcade subscription with your family members, you can disable Purchase Sharing. On iOS or iPadOS, go to Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing > Purchase Sharing. On Mac, go to System Preferences > Family Sharing

Purchase Sharing.

At all times, information collected by Apple will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy.

Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Contact the vendor for additional information.

Published Date: July 26, 2021

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