A study reveals that not all the free and paid apps available across the App stores
follow the privacy policy. The mobile app developers and the companies involved in the mobile application development must be conscious about the privacy at all phases of the app development process.
The Privacy Policy in a mobile is a must when you or your app collect, store, or share the personal data. The personal data includes several entities like first name, last name, an e-mail address, telephone/mobile number, location, analytics, or the ads. If you collect any of this data of the user, then you are bound to have a privacy policy.
Therefore, the mobile app developers or the mobile app development company must provide a comprehensible, an easily accessible privacy policy and inform the users about their identity, contact details, the precise category of data the app demands and its process, non-disclosure of data to the third parties, if disclosed, then the specific description of the third party, the users’ rights for withdrawal of consent and data deletion, and, etc.
The app development companies must focus on the transparency, meaning and timely privacy policies. The best practices recommended and to be considered during the app development are
- Conduct a Privacy Impact Assessment to describe the impact and effect of the project on an individual’s privacy and its management.
- Develop a privacy policy, make it accessible when the app is downloaded, notify the users about the changes or updates to the policy in advance.
- Ensure the user and gain trust by collecting only the required information in order to function. For instance,
- Ensure that the personal information received is appropriately secured and could be deleted by the users.
[i] An AR app need not access the Google’s calendar though it requires access to geolocation data, and thus never collects the sensitive information without the consent of the user.
[ii] The Pokémon Go, though has created a breeze in the city with millions of downloads, it does face the challenges in managing the user expectation, legal requirements, technical imperatives, commercialisation, and so forth as it requests the access for a broad range of data [the app on iOS users requested free access to their Google account which includes Gmail, Calendar, Drive documents, photos, search and browsing history].
[a] Provide data in the form of layers
[b] Provide data in the dashboard format
[c] Facilitate the users to select or modify the privacy settings
[d] Better usage of graphics in the form of icons, colors, sound, or the symbol.
[e] Provide prior and real-time notice for any changes
[f] Provide meaningful and effective disclosure.
Ultimately, the apps are created for the users and gaining the trust of them is the first and foremost priority of the app developers. We, the app developers at Mobibiz show concern for the customer privacy and acknowledge that it is important for you too. We include the privacy policy on product detail pages of your apps and ensure security for the users. For more details on app development and its privacy policy, you may contact our developers by visiting our site at www.mobibiz.in.
