Following in the footsteps of Apple’s App Store, google play also lets you know what data do apps use to track us? through the new section ‘Data security’that Google requires all developers to be transparent with the use of our data.
This new section of play store let us know what data are collected by apps and gameswhich of this data may be shared with other companies and to what extent our data is protected, as we will see below:
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So you can know what data apps are using to track you
To find out what data an application collects, simply go to the play storesearch for a specific application, enter its card and find the new section ‘Data security’. Unfolding it, we will see a summary of data security practicesallowing us to see more detailed information by pressing ‘See the details’.
We can also access the section of ‘Data security’ of the heading ‘Info. of the app’We will find access to this section in the ‘Application data’ section. This is where until a few weeks ago was the Permissions section, which has been replaced by the new security section.
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Once inside the ‘Data Security Section’ We can understand the data collection, shared data and security and privacy practices of applications through the sections “Shared Data”, “Data collected” there security practices ». The developer explains to others why they need to collect or share this data.
The types of data that may be collected by the applications published on Google Pla and their purposes are as follows:
Category | Data type | The description |
---|---|---|
Location | approximate location |
Your physical location or that of your device within an area greater than or equal to 3 square kilometers, such as the city in which you are located. |
precise location | Your physical location or that of your device within an area less than 3 square kilometers. | |
Personal information | name |
The name by which you identify yourself, such as your first name, last name or nickname. |
Mail address | Your email address. | |
user ID | Identifiers linked to an identifiable person. For example, an account ID, account number, or account name. | |
address |
Your address, such as your mailing address or home address. |
|
Phone number | Your phone number. | |
race and ethnicity |
Information about your race or ethnicity. |
|
Political opinions or religious beliefs |
Information about your political or religious beliefs. |
|
sexual orientation |
Information about your sexual orientation. |
|
Other information |
Any other personal information, such as date of birth, gender identity, veteran status, etc. |
|
Financial information | User payment information |
Information about your financial accounts, such as your credit card number. |
Purchase history |
Information about purchases or transactions you have made. |
|
credit rating |
Information about your credit. For example, your credit history or your credit rating. |
|
Other financial information |
Any other financial information, such as your salary or debts. |
|
health and fitness | health informati on |
Information about your health, such as your medical history or symptoms. |
Information on physical activity |
Information about your physical activity, such as exercise or other physical activity. |
|
posts |
Your emails, including subject, sender, recipients and content. |
|
SMS or MMS |
Your text messages, including sender, recipients and content. |
|
Other messages in apps |
Any other type of message. For example, instant messages or chat content. |
|
Photos and videos | Pictures | Your photos. |
videos | Your videos. | |
audio files | Voice or sound recordings |
Your voice, such as a voicemail or sound recording. |
music files |
Your music files. |
|
other audio files |
Any other audio file you have created or provided. |
|
Files and documents | Files and documents |
Your files or documents, or information about them, such as file names. |
Calendar | calendar events |
Information about your calendar, such as events, event notes, and attendees. |
contacts | contacts |
Information about your contacts. For example, contact names, message history, or social graph information such as usernames, contact duration and frequency, interaction duration, or call history. |
app activity | Interactions with the app |
Information about how you interact with the application. For example, the number of times you visit a page or the sections you touch. |
App search history | Information about what you searched for in the app. | |
installed apps | Information about applications installed on your device. | |
Other User Generated Content |
Any other generated content that does not appear here or in any other section. For example, biographies, notes or open-ended answers. |
|
other actions |
Any other in-app activity or action not listed here, such as playing games, content you like, and chat options. |
|
web browsing | Web browsing history |
Information about the websites you have visited. |
Information and application performance | incident logs |
Application crash data. For example, the number of times the app has crashed on the device or other information directly related to a crash. |
Diagnostic |
Information about app performance on the device. For example, battery life, charging time, latency, frame rate, or any technical diagnostics. |
|
Other app performance data |
Any other application performance data not listed here. |
|
Device or other identifiers | Device or other identifiers |
Identifiers tied to a specific device, browser or application. For example, an IMEI number, MAC address, Widevine device ID, Firebase install ID, or advertising ID. |
In the last section, in ‘safety practices’ we can tell that our data is encrypted in transit, if we can ask the developer to delete our data, or if the app has been independently validated against an international security standard.
Some apps still don’t show collected data, but that will change next month. From July 20, all developers will be required to inform users of this new security section:
- If the developer collects data and for what purpose.
- If the developer shares data with third parties.
- The app’s security practices, such as encryption of data in transit and whether users can request that data be deleted.
- If an eligible app has agreed to follow Google Play’s Family Policy to better protect children on the Play Store.
- Whether the developer has validated its security practices against a global security standard (specifically, the MASVS).
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The new
Your apps collect data about you, so you can see everything they store and share
was originally published in
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by Cosmos.