Google Hasn’t Updated Its iOS Apps Since the Day Before Apple’s New Privacy Labels Requirement

Last month, Apple introduced a new privacy section in the App Store to inform users about some of the data types that apps may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. Developers have been required to provide this info to Apple when submitting new apps and app updates to the App Store since December 8, 2020.

Interestingly, Fast Company noticed that Google has yet to update any of its iPhone and iPad apps since Apple’s requirement went into effect, with apps like Gmail, Chrome, and YouTube having last been updated on December 7, 2020 or prior. As a result, all Google apps still say “No Details Provided” under the new privacy section in the App Store, with a notice that “the developer will be required to provide privacy details when they submit their next app update.”

By comparison, the report notes that Google has updated several of its Android apps after December 8, including Google Maps on December 14, Google Duo on December 15, Gmail on December 16, and YouTube on December 21.

Google has yet to comment on the report, so the reason for the lack of recent iOS app updates is unconfirmed, but Fast Company makes the reasonable assumption that Google might be trying to delay revealing its privacy label information, especially after the negative attention that Facebook received over its very lengthy privacy label.

Google will surely have to update its iOS apps eventually, so it will be interesting to see what the privacy labels reveal about the company’s data collection practices.