Google’s new data guidance takes a page from Apple’s privacy playbook

Google launched a new “Data safety section” in its Google Play Store on Monday for app developers, building on a pledge the company made in May to increase transparency around how apps hosted on its platforms utilize user data. A video released along with the announcement shows this information will be prominently featured in a set of bullet points when users click on an app to install or update it, though it won’t be publicly available until next year.

As the company explained in a blog post, the hope is that this gives developers extra time to familiarize themselves with the new guidance and requirements that are coming with this change, including information they need to provide to Google. By April 2022, developers will need to submit data safety forms to accompany any products they offer in the Google Play Store. This will include the type of data (such as location or contacts) an app collects, how that is used by the app (such as to personalize the experience or for the app’s basic functionality), and how this data is shared with outside sources. Apps will also have to offer a privacy policy that outlines what they do with sensitive user data. Developers that fail to provide all of this information before the April deadline could face “enforcement actions” like submissions or updates getting rejected by the Store, the blog stated.