Security Bite: Do an app’s privacy labels influence your decision to download it? – 9to5Mac

Apple introduced app privacy labels to help people better understand what data an app may collect, including what data is linked to them or used to track them across the web. When released back in 2020, the labels set a precedent in the industry and were a major first step in raising awareness of privacy-invasive apps. It was now easy for users to compare something like Signal, which collects virtually no data at all, and Facebook Messenger, which gobbles up anything it can use to sell advertising or better its services. The feature set out to help users make informed downloads.

However, in recent years, I have seen a growing conversation around whether these entirely self-reported labels located further down on the application’s App Store page still impact the user’s decision before hitting “Get” to install.

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There are three main groups of what Apple calls “privacy nutrition labels”:

• Data Linked to You: This is data collected by the app and linked to the user’s identity, typically for third-party advertising or personalization. This can include full name, physical address, email address, precise and coarse location, purchase history in the app, browsing history, financial info, and lots more. Apple requires developers to disclose this when the data can be linked back to the user.

• Data Not Linked to You: This is data collected but not tied back to the user, typically used for analytics to improve the product. Apple requires developers to process data in a way that prevents re-identification, ensuring it cannot be traced back to an individual user.
• Data Used to Track You: This is collected and used to track users across other apps and websites. Think Google or Meta using a user’s device ID to serve personalized ads across their respective apps. This info can also be sold to data brokers.

Public attention around data collection tends to surge when a new blockbuster app raises privacy concerns but quickly fizzles. We saw this with the launch of Threads a few years back when users questioned why its App Store privacy labels included data categories like ‘Health and Fitness’—despite having no obvious need for that type of data. However, in retrospect, this had virtually no effect on the growth of the service. Today, Threads is the number one downloaded social media service on the App Store. Which raises the question: Does an app’s privacy labels influence a user’s decision to download it?

A big misconception about Privacy Nutrition Labels is how they’re determined. Apple leaves it up to the developer to accurately determine and declare what the app may collect from its users. While this gives developers flexibility and likely keeps the App Store review process time down, it raises some concerns about transparency and accountability.

So, what does this mean for users? Privacy labels are undeniably useful—if you know where to find them and how to interpret them. But just because they’re declared doesn’t necessarily mean they’re being implemented. As Apple continues to position privacy as a core value, the bigger question is how it can work with developers to increase transparency, better communicate data practices, and hold those over-declaring just to cover their asse_ts legally, accountable.

I would enjoy hearing other thoughts and opinions on this! Do you look at these before installing? Is there a way Apple can improve further here? Leave a comment below.