About privacy information on the App Store and the choices you have to control your data

: June 7, 2024
: Apple

Table of Contents

About privacy information on the App Store and the choices you have to

About privacy information on the App Store and the choices you have to

control your data

The App Store now includes detailed privacy information that helps you understand each app’s data collection practices.

In June 2020, Apple announced a new privacy information section for product pages on the App Store. This is the beginning of an innovative new program to help customers have more transparency and understanding about what data apps may gather about them. This new program creates an easy-to-understand system for all apps, where the information is self-reported by the developer. Apple will continue to provide resources to developers to help them fill out this information accurately. This privacy information section will evolve over time as we all learn what works best for everyone.

About the privacy information section

The new privacy information section helps you understand an app’s privacy practices on any Apple platform. On each app’s product page, you can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to you or used to track you.

Learn how the App Privacy section defines the different types of data an app might collect—including location, contact info, health info and more—and some of the ways the developer or its third-party partners may use it, like for advertising or analytics.

Data Linked to You

Data that is listed as linked to you means that the data is collected in a way that is linked to your identity, such as to your account, your device, or your details (for example, your phone number). To declare that data is collected but not linked to you, a developer must use privacy protections such as stripping any direct identifiers, for example user ID, before collection, and avoid practices like linking the data back to your identity after collection.

Learn more about data linked to you.

Data Used to Track You

Data used to track you refers to data from the app that is linked with your data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties, and used for ads or shared with a data broker.

Some examples of tracking include:

An app displaying targeted advertisements based on user data collected from apps and websites owned by other companies.
An app sharing device location data or email lists with a data broker.
An app sharing a list of emails, advertising IDs, or other IDs with a third-party advertising network that uses that information to retarget you in other developers’ apps.

Learn more about tracking.

Additional details about data use and privacy practices

You can see a list of definitions of the data types collected, along with definitions of the different uses visible in the privacy information section.

If an app has multiple possible use cases with different data collection practices, the privacy information section should include the practices of all of them, and how they are used. For example, if an app has different data collection practices for a free version and a paid version of the app, it should report all of the data types collected for both cases. There also may be differences between child-only and adult versions of an app, differences between data collection in different regions, and other differences depending on your use of the app. The app developer’s privacy policy may provide more detail about how its data collection practices may vary in different cases.

If a developer asks for information from you inside the app, they still need to disclose that data in the privacy information section. In limited cases, developers may choose not to disclose a data type that is collected, if the collection is infrequent and is not part of the app’s primary functionality, it is collected in a way that is clear in the experience what data is collected, your account information or name is prominently displayed, and you make a clear choice to share the information. In addition, apps do not need to declare information that is collected only by Apple, such as App Analytics or payment information used for in-app purchases. Apps also don’t need to declare data if they are facilitating regulated financial services and the collection meets certain conditions or when collection is subject to an informed consent form as part of a health research study that has been reviewed by an ethics review board.

Learn more about developer optional disclosure.

Apple provides settings and controls to help you manage what data is shared with apps. Learn more about ways to take control of the data you share with apps.

In addition to controls provided in iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS, Apple provides data and privacy tools at privacy.apple.com that help you take control of the data you store with us. When you sign in with your Apple ID, the complete set of self-service data and privacy tools is available:

Get a copy of the data that you store with Apple that’s associated with your Apple ID.
Deactivate your Apple ID temporarily.
Delete your Apple ID—and the data associated with it—permanently.
Request a correction to your personal data.

Apple apps and privacy information

At Apple, we work hard to ensure our hardware, software, and services use innovative privacy technologies and techniques to minimize how much of a customer’s data we — or anyone else — can access. The privacy information summaries for our own apps detail our own data collection practices, listing the types of data our apps may collect and whether that data may or may not be linked to a user or device.

Because of the variety of apps we offer and the different experiences they provide to customers, these privacy summaries vary by app and will be updated as we continue to work on new ways to protect our customers’ information. Providing these details helps customers stay informed and make better decisions about their own privacy. We will continue to work hard to make our apps deliver even better experiences while designing them with privacy in mind from the beginning.

You can find privacy information sections for Apple apps in those apps’ product pages on the App Store, as well as at apple.com/privacy/labels, which also includes Apple apps that don’t have dedicated App Store pages.

Frequently asked questions about privacy information for Apple apps

Why do some Apple apps that allow you to back up your data to the cloud list that data in the privacy information section, while others do not?
The privacy information section is designed to give you transparency into data that is collected as part of using the app. Some Apple apps, for example Photos and Messages, give you the choice to back up app data outside of the app. These apps don’t declare the data types that are backed up in their privacy information section. Other Apple apps, for example iMovie, give you the choice to back up inside the app. These apps do declare the data types that are backed up in their privacy information section. You can control which apps are backing up to iCloud on your iPhone in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup.

Why is Device Identifier collected as Data Linked to You for some Apple apps but not others?
Whether the device ID is linked to you or not linked to you depends on the nature of the ID and whether Apple can link it to user identity. If it can be linked to your identity we have listed it as Data Linked to You, and if it cannot be linked to your identity, then it is listed as Data Not Linked to you. For example, Contacts shares a device identifier with Apple, but it is not linked to your identity, so Device Identifier is listed as Data Not Linked to You.

Why do Apple News and Stocks collect Data Linked to You?
Apple News and Stocks use a limited set of data linked to user identity. Purchase history is used to enable access to premium content from Apple News+ or from publisher channels with individual subscriptions. Email addresses are used in Apple News only for newsletters, and only for users who opt in to receive emails or users who opt to share their email addresses with partners for access to partner websites. The content users read is associated with a random identifier that isn’t linked to a user and is not linked to other Apple services. Separate random advertising identifiers are also used to serve appropriate ads. Learn more about Apple News and privacy.

Why does Maps collect Health and Fitness data?
Apple collects motion data in Maps to analyze walking navigation trips, and to exclude users who are running or cycling from walking metrics. This data is not linked to you. For more information, view “About Apple Maps & Privacy” on your iPhone in Settings > Privacy > Maps.

Why does Messages collect Search History?
Messages queries Apple to obtain the correct encryption key for people that you communicate with. Apple maintains query logs to prevent abuse of the service. Learn more about Messages and privacy.

Why does Translate collect Other User Content?
In the Translate app, Other User Content refers to the text you enter to obtain a translation. Learn more, view “About Translate & Privacy” on your iPhone in Settings > Translate > About Translate & Privacy.

What data does the Health app collect?
If you choose to enable Improve Health and Activity, certain activity, workout, and health-related information from your iOS device and Apple Watch will be sent to Apple in order to develop, improve, and understand the effectiveness of health, activity, and fitness features. Your data will not be used for any other purpose, and does not include personally identifiable information. The information collected as part of Improve Health and Activity includes data that is shown in the Health and Fitness apps on your iOS device and the Activity app on your Apple Watch. For more information, view “About Improve Health and Activity & Privacy” on your iPhone in Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvements.

What data does the Fitness app collect?
If you subscribe to Fitness+, Apple may collect information about your search, browsing, and workouts in order to develop, improve, and understand the effectiveness of Apple Fitness+ features and workouts. If you choose to enable Improve Apple Fitness+, your workout titles and trainers will also be collected. All of this data is stored against a random, rotating identifier that is specific to Apple Fitness+ and not associated with your Apple ID. If you explore the Fitness+ tab prior to subscribing, Apple collects information about your browsing activity, and this information is associated with your Apple ID. For more information, view “About Apple Fitness+ & Privacy” on your iPhone in Settings > Fitness+.

What data does the Wallet app collect?
With Wallet, you can keep your credit and debit cards (if Apple Pay is available in your market), transit cards, airline boarding passes, event tickets, student ID cards, and more in one place on your iPhone or Apple Watch. Financial information is collected if you use Apple Pay (in countries and regions where Apple Pay is available) and this limited set of data is used to improve the Apple Pay customer experience. For example, Apple uses payment information, such as a list of payment cards added to Apple Pay, to let customers remotely remove these cards. Also, when you add a card to Apple Pay, card-related information, device settings, coarse device location, and device use patterns may be sent to determine Apple Pay eligibility of your card and prevent fraud. Apple Pay does not store the original credit or debit card number. And when you use Apple Pay with credit, debit, or prepaid cards, Apple doesn’t retain any transaction information that can be tied back to you. Learn more about Apple Pay and privacy.

Why does Apple Music collect Data Linked to You?
To help Apple Music features—like Listen Now, Personal Mixes, Stations, Autoplay, Search and new release notifications—better reflect your musical tastes, Apple collects information about your activity in the app. The songs that you stream aren’t used by any other service to advertise to you. If you don’t want to keep your music collection on our servers, you can opt out of Sync Library. Apple Music is obligated to share some data with partners, like record labels, for purposes such as royalty payments to artists, but it only does so with industry-leading privacy protections. For example, non-personal information is shared with labels using a random identifier that rotates monthly. Only aggregate data is shared with other partners, like artists. Learn more about Apple Music and privacy.

Why does Phone collect Data Linked to You?
If you have hearing or speech difficulties, you can communicate by telephone using Teletype (TTY) or real-time text (RTT)—protocols that transmit text as you type and allow the recipient to read the message right away. To deliver these services, Apple has to link the data to you to deliver your messages to the person you are calling, and vice versa. Learn more about TTY and RTT.

What data do Pages, Numbers and Keynote collect?
When you turn on iCloud sharing with Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to invite people to collaborate on a document, spreadsheet, or presentation, your name, email address, and phone number are collected and associated with you to enable this functionality. In addition, data is collected to improve the product, including to understand the effectiveness of existing product features, plan new features, or measure usage. When you turn on iCloud syncing to access your document, spreadsheet, or presentation on multiple devices, your user ID is collected to enable this functionality and related analytics data is collected and associated with your device ID. And if you have opted in to help Apple improve our products and services automatically, usage data such as app launches may also be collected.

Why does Shazam collect Other Data Types?
When you use Shazam to sample audio, it is converted on device into a representation which is then sent to the server to see if a match can be found in Shazam’s music catalog. The audio itself never leaves the device, and the representation is designed to not allow for reconstruction of the original audio. Shazam stores the representations under certain circumstances—for example, if the signature doesn’t match immediately, it is stored and rechecked periodically for a few days for possible matches to updates in the catalog. Learn more about Shazam and 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: April 26, 2021