Apple have added new app requirements for privacy practices and information in all apps in AppStore. This is required for all apps if submitted after December 8 2020.
Apple says:
"Later this year, the App Store will help users understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on any Apple platform. On each app’s product page, users can learn about some of the data types the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. You’ll need to provide information about your app’s privacy practices, including the practices of third-party partners whose code you integrate into your app, in App Store Connect. This information will be required to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store starting December 8, 2020."
In practice this will mean two things:
- It will be a requirement to fill out information about your app's privacy practices in App Store Connect. Visiolink will take care of this based on the features that are implemented in the app
- A new dialog box will appear, if the app contains collection of user data AND these data are shared with a third-party outside your organization (applies to only iOS 14 users only)
New information in App Store
The new information about privacy practices in App Store is autogenerated, based on a filled out form. This form will be filled out by Visiolink Project Managers. Information is depending on your specific app setup and functionalities. The purpose is to make it transparent to the users, if the app tracks the user, and if the collected data is linked to the specific user or his/her device or account.
New dialog in iOS 14 for some customers
A new dialog showing the first time the users open the app after an upgrade, will be triggered if data collected in the app can identify the user AND it is shared with a third-party with the purpose of following the user across apps and websites (e.g. for retargeting).
UPDATED MARCH 10, 2021
Apple have started rejecting apps from being submitted to the AppStore that contain both the ATT dialog and a GDPR dialog. As we cannot convince Apple that GDPR is legally required, we need to stop the ATT dialog from being shown. This requires two things:
- Apps that contain a Google Ad Manager integration must by default be set to use Non-Personalized Ads (Visiolink will start doing this immediately)
- If your app contains user tracking you can by no means share the collected data with a 3rd party outside of your organization
By keeping inside these boundaries, it is not necessary to show the dialog. If you cannot agree to both of these circumstances, we can show both the ATT dialog and the GDPR dialog risking that the app is rejected.
Using Non-Personalized Ads means that the ad ID is not sent to Google Ad Manager. It will be replaced with 0000, making it impossible to target the user specifically.
Official information
Official information from Apple: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/user-privacy-and-data-use/
Details, including types of data: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/app-privacy-details/
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