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Showing posts with the label #Android

What Actually Makes a Mobile App GDPR Compliant? A Real Answer for 2026

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  Search for "how to make a mobile app GDPR compliant" and you will find hundreds of guides. Most of them repeat the same surface points and stop there. Apps that actually pass GDPR reviews go a lot deeper, and the depth is not in the privacy policy. This piece walks through the layers that decide compliance in a modern mobile app. Layer 1: The consent banner Shown on first launch. Accept and Reject placed side by side with equal design weight. Toggles cover analytics, advertising, personalisation, and functional purposes. Layer 2: The SDK gate Every analytics, ad, and attribution SDK waits for the consent layer to report back before it starts. This is the layer most apps skip. It is also the layer regulators check first with a network proxy on the first launch. Layer 3: The consent record Every choice is stored as a signed IAB TCF v2.2 string, plus a full audit log with timestamps and versions. Layer 4: The user rights flow Users can view, export, and delete their d...

What Counts as Personal Data Under GDPR, and the Six Things People Get Wrong

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  GDPR uses one sentence to define personal data. Article 4(1) calls it "any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person". Everything else follows from that sentence, so it helps to read it slowly. Two words do the work. Identified means you already know who it is. Identifiable means you could work it out. Things that count The European Commission gives a plain list: a name and surname, a home address, an email address, an IP address, an identification card number, a cookie ID, and the advertising identifier of your phone. Video recording from CCTV is on the list too. Things that do not count A company registration number is not personal data. A generic mailbox such as info@company.com is not personal data. Truly anonymised information is outside GDPR, and only when the anonymisation cannot be reversed. The six mix ups Assuming work emails are exempt. A named address like sarah.jones@company.com identifies a person, so it counts. Treating coded record...

Mobile App Compliance for iOS and Android: What Every App Owner Needs to Know in 2026

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  If you own or manage a mobile app, privacy compliance has changed significantly in the past two years. Regulators are no longer satisfied with a privacy policy page buried in your settings. They want to see how your app actually handles data at the moment of collection, and app stores have added their own requirements on top of that. This post covers what mobile app compliance means in 2026, which regulations apply, what a proper consent flow looks like, and where most apps fall short. Which Regulations Apply to Your App The regulations that apply depend on where your users are located, not where your company is registered. If your app has users in the EU or UK, GDPR applies. This regulation requires explicit opt-in consent before you collect data for non-essential purposes like analytics or advertising. Pre-ticked boxes and bundled consent do not meet the standard. If your app has users in California, CCPA gives those users the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of ...