Data Safety Declaration

Short definition

The Data Safety declaration is Google Play's required form where developers disclose what user data their app collects and shares, the purposes for each data type, and the security practices applied.

Detailed

Introduced in 2022 and enforced on every Play Store listing, Data Safety sits in a dedicated section of the store page and covers categories such as location, financial info, personal info, messages, photos, contacts, and app activity. Developers must declare collection vs sharing, whether the data is encrypted in transit, whether users can request deletion, and whether the data is optional or required.

Example

An indie fitness app that syncs workouts to a cloud backend declares: 'Personal info (email) — collected, not shared, required'; 'Health & fitness (workout data) — collected and shared with third-party analytics, optional'; data encrypted in transit; users can request deletion from settings.

Primary sources

• Google — Provide information for Data Safety →

Related terms

• App Privacy Details
  App Privacy details (often called the 'privacy nutrition label') are Apple's required disclosures on every App Store product page showing the categories of data the app collects, whether the data is linked to the user, and whether it is used to track the user across other companies.
• Privacy Policy (app context)
  An app privacy policy is a legally binding document that discloses what personal data the app collects, how it is used, with whom it is shared, and what rights users have over their data.
• Google Play Console
  Google Play Console is Google's web and API console for publishing and managing Android apps and games on the Google Play Store.
• App Tracking Transparency
  App Tracking Transparency (ATT) is Apple's iOS 14.5+ privacy framework that requires apps to obtain explicit user permission before tracking them across apps and websites owned by other companies.