Overview

On November 5, 2020, Apple announced a new requirement to submit new apps and app updates to the App Store, effective starting December 8, 2020. The new guideline requires all apps to submit responses to App Privacy questions, which will be used to help inform app users about data collection and usage.

As an Account Holder or Admin, after we submit your app to App Store Connect, a confirmation message is sent to your email address, usually titled “Thank You for Submitting Your App”. If you haven’t answered the App Privacy Questions by that time, or if your App Privacy policies have changed, they can be updated in the App Store Connect portal. The answers to the Privacy Questions are individual per application.

You can read more about this new policy on the App Privacy Details page, It’s important to note that existing apps will remain available for download.

Environment

• You have a new iOS application, or want to republish an existing iOS application after December 8, 2020.
• You have Account Holder or Admin access to the App 

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Solution

To ensure you will be able to publish new apps, or request republishes of your existing apps, you should complete the App Privacy Questions, following these steps:

1. Go to the App Store Connect portal, and enter your Account Holder or Admin credentials.
2. Select My Apps.
3. On your Apps listing, select the App you want to update.
4. Select the App Store tab and under the navigation item General, select App Privacy

5. The App Privacy settings will appear, at the bottom of the page, click the Get Started button:
   
   
   
6. A modal will pop up, asking if you collect data from the App, you should select “Yes, we collect data from this app” since the App Analytics feature requires the collection of usage data to provide insights into how your users navigate and use your app, and other features require other types of data collection, such as email addresses for user accounts or location data for geofenced notifications.
7. In the following screen, you will be able to select which data you collect, by checking each checkbox in the corresponding data item, you can read more about the data types on the corresponding page in the App Store documentation. Note that you have to scroll down to see the entire list:
   
   
   
8. You should always select Product Interaction, under Usage Data, since App Analytics gathers usage information.
9. Select additional data collected, depending on what features your app uses:

   Feature	Data collected
   Sign-up | Log-in	Contact Info > Email Address
   Around Us | Direction View | Loyalty (GPS Coupons)	Location > Coarse Location

10. Click the Save button, on the bottom right corner.
11. The pop up modal window will close, and on the bottom of the App Privacy page you will have to specify the usage of each type of data collected, by clicking on each “Set Up – Data Type“ button:

12. For each selected data type collected, select how is the data used, by checking at least one checkbox from the displayed list, the most common usage should be App Functionality (Note: For the Product Interaction data type, it’s suggested you select “Analytics”).
    
    
    
13. After you select the usage, click on the Next button, the next screen will ask if the data collected is linked to the user’s identity, for most features, the answer will be Yes:   

14. After selecting Next, the following screen will clarify the terms Tracking and Third-Party Data, after reading it, click Next again.
15. The new screen will display examples of tracking, after reading it, click Next:
16. The following screen will ask you if you or your third-party partners are using the data for tracking purposes, since the majority of collected data is used for feature functionality, or your own usage analytics, it’s suggested you choose No.
    
    
     
17. Click the Save button.
18. Complete the previous steps, for each data type you selected.
19. After completing all the App Privacy Questions, you will see a preview of how the Product Page will display your chosen settings, and you should be able to publish your app, or request your app to be republished from the Client CMS.
    
    
    

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Testing

• After completing the App Privacy Questions for all the data types collected, you will be able to publish your new application or republish your existing application without issues.

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