Overview

Apple’s new Privacy Policy and your Pendo SDK

What’s changed?

From  Dec. 8th, 2020, iOS App owners will be required to add details to their privacy policies in the App Store about the data types their app and any embedded third-party SDKs may collect and the purpose for which it is collected. Your privacy policy is accessible from your app page in the App Store. 

What type of data does Pendo collect?

You can find detailed information in this article to understand which type of data Pendo collects about your end-users. This information will be required in order to submit apps to the App store. (You can learn more in Apple’s article).

Do I need to include information about the Pendo SDK?

Under Apple’s new requirements, App owners need to identify data collected both by the App owner and any “third party” SDK.  We recommend that, at a minimum, you disclose that Pendo collects App ID on device and product usage data on your behalf to allow you to gather analytics and evaluate user behavior.  You may also consider including other categories of data and purposes depending on your use case and Pendo configuration, including if you use Pendo to collect additional metadata about users.Note that the userId, accountId (anonymized or open), and other personal details about the user is at your discretion.  

Pendo does not share your data with any 3rd party data broker or Ads service. The data is collected solely for your understanding of the app usage and your ability to target the relevant users with app-related messages. 

iOS 14.5 AppTracking Transparency policy

For iOS 14.5 Apple requires apps to request user’s permission to track them or access their device’s advertising identifier through the AppTrackingTransparency policy. "Tracking" refers to the act of linking user or device data collected from your app with user or device data collected from other companies’ apps, websites, or offline properties for targeted advertising or advertising measurement purposes.

In general, Pendo's SDK does not fall under Apples's definitions of tracking. By default Pendo’s SDK does not track users and so you do not need to include the request for user permission in your app. However, you should always review how your app or company uses Pendo data in light of App Store policy changes.