Google Will Soon Require Android Apps to Let Users Delete their Accounts

Google announced this week that Android apps that allow users to create an account will soon need to include an option to delete it within the app and on the web. The new data deletion policy will give Android users greater control over their personal data, and the web requirement will also guarantee that users can delete their accounts without having to reinstall an app.

Google will require developers to add a link to an online data deletion option in the Data safety section of their Google Play Store listing. “By creating a more intuitive experience with this policy, we hope to better educate our shared users on the data controls available to them and create greater trust in your apps and in Google Play more broadly,” the Android app safety team explained.

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With its new data deletion policy, Google also wants app developers to provide users with more granular controls over their personal data. As an example, apps may provide the option to delete a user account entirely or just the data associated with it. “Users who may not want to delete their account entirely can choose to delete other data only where applicable (such as activity history, images, or videos),” Google explained.

Google plans to start rolling out this new policy gradually. Android developers will first need to submit answers to new Data deletion questions in their app’s Data Safety form by December 7, and Android users will start seeing these changes appear on Google Play Store app listings early next year.

As part of its April 2023 policy updates (via Techcrunch), Google also announced that apps providing personal loans will no longer be able to access user contacts or photos. This new Personal Loans policy will go into effect on May 31, 2023.

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