Google Planning to Update iOS Apps With Privacy Labels Soon

Earlier today, Fast Company shared an article noting that Google has yet to update its iPhone and iPad apps to bring them in line with Apple's new App Store privacy labels requirement. Fast Company speculated that Google might be trying to delay revealing its privacy label data, but it turns out that's not the case.

According to a report from TechCrunch, Google is not taking a stand against Apple's privacy labels and is in fact planning to add the privacy data to its iOS app catalog as soon as this week or next week.

Apple implemented App Privacy information in iOS 14.3, after promising the feature when iOS 14 was first announced. App Privacy labels provide customers with a way to determine what data an app collects about them before choosing to install it.

Apple is requiring all apps to self-report privacy information in the ‌App Store‌, and developers must identify all data collection and use cases. Labels are separated into categories including data used to track you, data linked to you, and data not linked to you, which indicates that it is anonymized.

There has been some negativity associated with App Privacy as Facebook was called out for having a lengthy label due to the amount of data it collects, and it's quite possible Google will have similar privacy labels.

As of December 8, all app updates submitted must include the privacy label information, and most Google apps designed for iOS devices have not seen updates since before December 7. It is not clear why Google has delayed updating its iOS apps when it has updated Android apps, but it could be due to the holiday period. Google implements a code freeze from late December to early January, which TechCrunch suggests could be the reason behind the lack of iOS updates.