Google has now revealed the data its Gmail app collects from you. The company has updated the Gmail for iOS app to add Apple’s privacy labels, which is meant to tell people the data being collected by apps, ensuring further security and privacy.
This comes after Google recently updated the YouTube app for iOS, which also has the privacy labels to update users on the data they are sharing with the app. Here’s a look at what all you are sharing with Gmail.
This is the data Gmail for iOS collects
Gmail for iOS primarily collects data for advertising, analytics, product personalisation, and app functionality purposes. With four broad categories to cover, the list of data that can be collected by the app is pretty long.
The app collects your location, user ID, and usage data, and search history, contacts information, meant for all the aforementioned purposes. There will be access to user content (photos or videos, audio data, and more content), purchase information, and even diagnostics (crash data, performance data, and more) that comes under the list.
However, Google doesn’t collect your personal information such as their name, address, phone number, or more.
One thing worth noting is that the data mentioned is something that Gmail ‘may’ collect. This means that there isn’t a necessity that the app is collecting the data for sure. It may or may not do so. Plus, since the app data is provided by the app developer itself, there are chances that it might not be accurate.
How to check app privacy labels on iOS?
Apple introduced privacy labels with iOS 14 and made it compulsory for apps to add them in December last year. This helps you to keep an eye on the data being collected. If you intend to see what all data Gmail or any particular iOS app collects, you need to follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Head to the App Store.
Step 2: Go to Gmail or any app’s page.
Step 3: Scroll down a bit to see the Privacy section where you will all the data being collected. You can hit the ‘See details’ option to get a better and detailed idea of the same.
Google has currently put the privacy labels on only two of its app and the popular ones such as Google Photos, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Chrome, and more are yet to the labels.
