Shipping

How to handle privacy and data deletion

This is the part people leave until the day they submit, and it is the part with the most binary pass-or-fail rules in it.

1. Every app needs a live privacy policy URL.

   Not a page you’ll write later, not a link to a generator’s homepage. A real URL, reachable without a login, that describes what this specific app collects. Both stores fetch it.

2. Say what you collect, in plain words, per app.

   A shared policy across seven apps that lists every possible data type is worse than useless -- it declares collection you don’t do. Write one per app, and keep it short enough that it’s accurate.

3. Account deletion must be reachable from inside the app.

   Apple requires an in-app path, not an email address. Put it in Settings, make it findable, confirm it clearly, and make sure it deletes the server-side record rather than just signing the person out.

4. Deleting the account has to delete the data.

   If deletion leaves the user’s scores, profile and tokens sitting in your database, the declaration is false. Write the server-side cleanup as part of the feature, not as a follow-up.

5. The privacy labels are a legal declaration, not a form.

   Apple’s App Privacy section and Play’s Data safety form both bind you. They must include what your SDKs do -- analytics, crash reporting, ads and attribution all collect data on your behalf.

6. Disclose generative AI, and moderate what it produces.

   If the app generates content with AI, both stores expect you to say so and to handle what comes out. Play’s generative-AI policy requires an in-app way for users to report offensive output; Apple treats unfiltered generated content as a content-moderation problem under the user-generated content rules.

7. If users can share, you have a social feature and its obligations.

   The moment one user can see another’s content, you inherit the whole package: moderation, reporting, blocking, a published contact method, and an age rating that reflects it. Sharing a score to a group is usually fine; a feed is not.

8. Answer the age-rating questionnaire against the worst case.

   Rate for what the app can display, including user content and anything generated. Understating it is a policy violation and re-rating later can pull you out of storefronts.

9. Tracking needs consent on iOS.

   If you track users across other companies’ apps and sites, App Tracking Transparency applies and the prompt is mandatory. Ordinary first-party analytics is not tracking -- but check what your SDK actually does before answering.

10. Children’s apps are a different regime entirely.

    The Kids category and Play’s Families policy restrict analytics, advertising and data collection far beyond the general rules. If children are a meaningful part of your audience, design for that from the start rather than retrofitting.