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Privacy labels---standardized, compact representations of data collection and data use practices---are often presented as a solution to the shortcomings of privacy policies. Apple introduced mandatory privacy labels for apps in its App Store in December 2020; Google introduced mandatory labels for Android apps in July 2022. iOS app privacy labels have been evaluated and critiqued in prior work. In this work, we evaluated Android Data Safety Labels and explored how differences between the two label designs impact user comprehension and label utility. We conducted a between-subjects, semi-structured interview study with 12 Android users and 12 iOS users. While some users found Android Data Safety Labels informative and helpful, other users found them too vague. Compared to iOS App Privacy Labels, Android users found the distinction between data collection groups more intuitive and found explicit inclusion of omitted data collection groups more salient. However, some users expressed skepticism regarding elided information about collected data type categories. Most users missed critical information due to not expanding the accordion interface, and they were surprised by collection practices excluded from Android's definitions. Our findings also revealed that Android users generally appreciated information about security practices included in the labels, and iOS users wanted that information added.
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How Usable Are iOS App Privacy Labels?
Standardized privacy labels that succinctly summarize those data practices that people are most commonly concerned about offer the promise of providing users with more effective privacy notices than fulllength privacy policies. With their introduction by Apple in iOS 14 and Google’s recent adoption in its Play Store, mobile app privacy labels are for the first time available at scale to users. We report the first in-depth interview study with 24 lay iPhone users to investigate their experiences, understanding, and perceptions of Apple’s privacy labels. We uncovered misunderstandings of and dissatisfaction with the iOS privacy labels that hinder their effectiveness, including confusing structure, unfamiliar terms, and disconnection from permission settings and controls. We identify areas where app privacy labels might be improved and propose suggestions to address shortcomings to make them more understandable, usable, and useful.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1914486
- PAR ID:
- 10426739
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies
- Volume:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 2299-0984
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 204-228
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.56553/popets-2022-0106
