At last October’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple announced that all apps submitted to the App Store after December 14 2020 would need a privacy label before they could be released.
So what exactly are Privacy Labels? Apple states that:
The App Store now helps users better understand an app’s privacy practices before they download the app on any Apple platform…
https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=3wann9gh
This means that apps need to disclose which type of data they collect, including any specific information that could be used to track users across the web. Some companies like Facebook have objected to the change, but we think this is a good step towards ensuring users have more control over their data.
What Data Does Bipsync Collect?
If you view the Bipsync Notes iOS app’s page in the App Store you’ll see that we collect very little data:
- User ID
- Crash Data
- Other Diagnostic Data
Why do we collect this data?
User ID
We use this data for associating error logs or crash reports with the user who triggered them. This helps us narrow down the cause and allows us to contact the user to follow up with them if the issue requires it.
Crash Data
In the unlikely event of the app crashing we are provided with a crash report which lets us know why the crash occurred as well as the code that was being executed at the time. This helps us to prevent the problem from happening again.
Other Diagnostic Data
Along with crash reports we collect error logs when certain issues arise in the app. When we investigate a bug report from a user or a crash report that was sent to us, these longs help us piece together what the app was doing so that we are able to identify and fix the problem.
We do not collect any location data or any information that could be used to track users across the web.
Analytics
We collect analytics data which is stored in Bipsync’s database and never shared with a third party. This data allows us to report on usage across the product to our clients, and also informs our product improvements by guiding our decisions based on where we see our users getting value from the product.
Summary
As you can see we only collect the minimum amount of data possible so that we can address issues quickly and ensure that we continue to build a product that is engaging and useful to our clients. We agree with Apple’s stance that users’ privacy should be respected, and are more than happy to comply with the latest privacy requirements.