Mobile Privacy Policy
December 1, 2009
The Google Privacy Policy and our various product-specific privacy notices describe how we treat personal information when you use Google's products and services, including any of Google's mobile products and services. In addition, the following describes our mobile privacy practices.
Mobile-specific information we collect
- Most of the personally identifying information we collect is what you tell us about yourself. For example, certain of our products and services allow you to interact and share personal information and data with others. You choose what you want to share and how you want to share it.
- Sometimes, we record your phone number. We record your phone number when you send it to us; ask us to remember it; or make a call or send a text message or SMS to or from Google. If you ask us to remember your phone number, we will associate your phone number with your Google Account, or, if you do not have a Google Account, with some other similar account ID. We often generate this account ID based on your device and hardware IDs, so if you change your device or hardware, you will have to re-associate this new device or hardware with your account before we can authenticate you.
- We collect some information on device-level events, such as crashes, and associate that temporarily with your Google Account in order to provide customer service.
- Most of the other information we collect for mobile, such as your device and hardware IDs and device type, the request type, your carrier, your carrier user ID, the content of your request, and basic usage stats about your device and use of Google's products and services does not by itself identify you to Google, though it may be unique or consist of or contain information that you consider personal. However, if you use an Android-powered device, Google will associate your device id with your Google Account in order to provide services, such as sync functionality for your Google email and contacts.
- If you use location-enabled products and services, such as Google Maps for mobile, you may be sending us location information. This information may reveal your actual location, such as GPS data, or it may not, such as when you submit a partial address to look at a map of the area.
- If you use Google Latitude on a mobile device, in addition to other information, we collect battery life information and tie it to your Google Account.
- Certain of our products and services allow you to download and/or personalize the content you receive from us. For these products and services, we will record information about your downloads and preferences, along with any information you provide yourself (such as a list of your stocks to personalize your stock listings). If the product or service requires you to log in with a Google Account, this information will be associated with your Google Account.
- If you use Google to transcode, or format, non-mobile pages to display properly on your device, we need to send your request to Google's servers for formatting. That means that we will record these requests, which are generally for material beyond Google's sites.
- For products and services with voice recognition capabilities, we collect and store a copy of the voice input you make to the product or service. To improve processing of your voice input, we may also continuously record in temporary memory a few seconds of ambient background noise. This recording stays only temporarily on the device and is not sent to Google.
Uses
- We use your information to process and personalize your requests. We also use the information for support, to develop new features, and to improve the overall quality of Google's products and services.
- We may also use the information to show you a history of your activity, to provide you with statistics about you or your use of our product or service, or to provide you with a better user experience.
- If you purchase something through Google's products and services, we may also use your information to bill you and to handle billing disputes.
Information sharing and onward transfer
- All requests must be sent through your mobile carrier's network and your carrier may have access to it. For information regarding your carrier's treatment of your information, please consult your carrier's privacy policies.
- If you decide to use third party applications on your device, any information those applications collect may be sent to third parties and the Google privacy policies do not apply. However, third party applications may have their own privacy policies that you should review.
- We may share your information with certain third parties we use to perform certain functions, such as billing and text message or SMS delivery. These third parties will be required to treat your information in accordance with the applicable Google privacy policies. We may also share some information with your wireless operator in order to perform customer service functions.
- Certain of our products and services allow you to interact and share your information with others. Please consider carefully before disclosing any personal information or data that might be accessible to others.
Your choices
- Certain of our products and services allow you to opt-out of certain information gathering and sharing or to opt-out of certain products, services, or features. Each product has a help page which describes these and other options.
More information
Google adheres to the US Safe Harbor privacy principles. For more information about the Safe Harbor framework or our registration, see the Department of Commerce's web site.
Further information about Google's various mobile products and services is available at mobile.google.com.
For more information about our privacy practices, go to the full privacy policy. For questions concerning the product or your account, please check out the Google Help page.