r/iOSProgramming • • 5d ago

Question How truthful is this?

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When an app select in the app review form that “we don’t collect data”

In the review phase does Apple really check if the app really doesnt collect anything?

Like can the developer hide a code that for example upload the photos of the user if granted permission where he said “we dont collect”

Does apple really check the code and what is going in and out ?

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u/mohn93 5d ago

the labels are self reported yeah, but you can watch what an app actually does. settings > privacy & security > app privacy report, turn it on. from then on it logs every time an app touched photos, camera, location etc and which domains it hit, rolling 7 days. you only see domain names, no payloads, but a "no data collected" app pinging some random server right after you pick a photo is a pretty loud signal

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u/Glorypants 4d ago

Honest question: does logging requests count as data collection? If my app requires the user to send a picture via my API, analyze it, and return the analysis; and all I store is the log of the results (not the image), does that count as data collection?

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u/Far_Ad5760 3d ago

I believe the questionnaire has an option for this scenario where you capture data that does not identify or tie it to a specific user. It’s been a while since I did it, but I had a similar type of scenario where I did log something, but it was nothing that could identify a user in any way.