Google shows first screenshots of privacy overview for Play Store apps

Google has shared the first screenshots of its upcoming privacy overview for apps in the Play Store. It shows information about how an app collects user data and whether it offers certain security measures.

Google already announced in May that apps in the Play Store would receive a privacy overview, which includes privacy and security information. Google showed screenshots of such overviews for the first time on Wednesday in its Android Developer blog, although the final design may still be tweaked before release.

The privacy overview lets users see, among other things, what data an app collects, such as user activity or location data. The overview also informs you whether data collection is necessary to use the app and whether the collected data is shared with other companies. Developers can also specify how they use the collected data.

Images via Google

The overview also shows certain security information about an app. For example, users can see whether the app in question encrypts users’ data and whether users can have their data deleted. The privacy overview also shows whether the security measures of the app have been independently tested. Users can also see if an app is appropriate for children and families, based on guidelines from its Families policy.

The privacy statements should be introduced in the Play Store in the first quarter of 2022, Google said earlier. Developers will be able to add privacy information to their apps’ Play Store listings from October, but it won’t be shown to users until early 2022. Developers have until April 2022 to enter the information.

The addition by Google follows similar measures taken by Apple in its App Store. Apple prominently displays ‘privacy labels’ before users install an app. Those labels also allow users to see what data the app collects. Privacy labels have been shown in the App Store since December last year.

The upcoming privacy and security overview from the Google Play Store