Google has finally updated some of its key iOS apps, including Docs and Calendar, after dragging its feet with adding Apple’s mandatory privacy labels to its App Store listings.
Surprise, Google Is Tracking You!
Apps like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Meet, and Tasks have now received mandatory privacy updates for the first time in months. Also, the Google Tasks app has picked up a Home screen widget on the iPhone and iPad. In February, various YouTube apps were updated with information regarding their privacy practices.
Google doesn’t detail the contents of these updates aside from mentioning unspecified bug fixes and performance improvements. A cursory glance at their App Store listing reveals that the aforementioned apps now provide Apple’s mandatory privacy “nutrition” labels.
These show a summary of an app’s privacy practices before you download it. Importantly, developers like Google self-report their privacy practices and Apple doesn’t screen these.
But Where’s My Chrome Update?
According to their updated listings, the apps collect user data and track you. Google has been criticized for the slow roll-out of the updates, with some people suspecting it wanted to avoid acknowledging its vast data collection practices in these privacy labels.
The suspicion isn’t entirely without its merit: Google had been updating all of its important mobile apps weekly for almost a decade now, like clockwork—but stopped doing so when Apple officially launched the App Privacy section on the App Store on December 7, 2020.
The App Store listings for Docs and Calendar reveal these apps capture and collect user data such as location, contact information, search history, usage data, and other metrics.
The slow rollout of Google’s updates is expected to continue as many of its other iPhone and iPad apps, like Chrome and Drive, are still on the back burner. Although Google Drive for iOS now includes a privacy label, Chrome still lacks one.