[MUSIC PLAYING]
THERESA KHUU: Keeping Google Play safe for users
and app and game businesses remains our top priority.
Over the past year, we've partnered with app and game
developers to help keep their users and businesses safe.
We help businesses to protect their apps,
prepare to share their data safety
practices with their users, and collaborate
on building more private advertising technology.
We also continued investing in machine learning detection
and enhanced app review processes
to stop apps with abusive or malicious content
before anyone can install them.
We also realized that it can be challenging for app and game
businesses to keep up with the pace of change
in this evolving privacy and security landscape.
So we've been mindful to give you
clear updates about new policy and product requirements,
provide more time for substantial changes,
and expanded our communications with inbox Console messages,
global webinars, and additional education resources.
Today, we're excited to share more about what's
coming up in 2022 so you have plenty of time to prepare.
Quality apps and games use good data safety practices
to protect your users.
We've heard that you want to explain your data safety
practices to users clearly and simply.
This is why we've added the data safety section
to apps' Play Store listings.
Now you can share how your app collects, shares,
and protects user data.
You can also showcase additional ways
that you protect users by opting into badges that
shows that your app has security practices like data
encryption in transit, has committed to following
our families policy, or has been independently reviewed
for conformance with a global security standard.
People have told us that they value
having this information to help them decide if an app
or game is right for them.
In late April, users will start to see the data safety section
in Google Play so make sure to submit your data safety
form in Console soon.
Also as a reminder, you will need
to have an approved form for all updates starting July 20.
Quality apps and games only share people's information
in the way that people expect.
We're committed to building a more privacy-friendly approach
to advertising and recently announced
expansion of the Privacy Sandbox initiative to Android.
This initiative works on innovative solutions
to improve user privacy while continuing
to support these central mechanisms that you rely on
to build your businesses and provide free apps to everyone.
Specifically, these solutions will limit sharing of user data
with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers.
We're building this technology in close collaboration
with app and game businesses.
So please review our initial design proposals
and share your feedback on the Android developer site.
You can also sign up to receive regular email updates
about our designs and timelines.
I'm sure that we can all agree that you
want your users to get the quality experience that you
design for them.
So to help protect your apps from piracy
and fraudulent activity, which can interfere
with this experience, we started rolling out the Play Integrity
API last year.
This API helps you protect your games and apps
by making it easier to detect suspicious traffic
so you can respond faster to issues like fraud and cheating.
Now everyone has access to this API
to help your users get the app experience you intend.
Importantly, we've built this API in a future-forward way
so that you can easily get new features with little
build time required to upgrade.
We know that using SDKs can be a key way for you
to build quality apps by introducing new features
or monitoring performance.
And determining which SDK is safe and reliable
is integral to an app's quality.
You told us that you want faster communication
from SDK providers about critical updates
that could cause issues for your business.
So last year, we gave SDK providers
a way to notify you about urgent issues
through your Google Play Console.
You have also shared that you want
to learn more about an SDK's safety
and reliability to avoid wasting build time
or exposing users to unsafe practices.
So in a few months, we'll share information
like version adoption levels, permission requests,
and retention rates to help you choose the right SDK
for your business and users.
For parents, a quality app is one
that protects their children's privacy and safety.
In the past year, we've continued
to refine our advertising restrictions
and parental control requirements to enhance
privacy and safety for kids.
Now eligible app and game businesses
can add a badge to their data safety section
highlighting that they're committed to following
the families policy.
You can expect to see continued policy updates this year
designed to protect kids' safety.
People expect that quality apps only collect and use
the data required for your app or game to function.
So this year, we are going to continue aligning permissions
more closely with the appropriate use cases.
We're also engaged in conversations with app and game
businesses about mitigating risks
for apps that target API levels from older Android OS versions.
Updating to the latest Android OS version
will also give you access to the latest features in building
a quality app experience.
As we continue working to keep Google Play safe for your users
and businesses, we continuously update our policies
and supporting technology.
You can stay up to date with all the latest news and information
on the Privacy Sandbox on Android
by signing up for the newsletter.
And to learn more about new policy updates,
please join the regular policy webinars
or watch the PolicyBytes.
Thank you for your critical partnership
in making Google Play a safe and trustworthy platform
for everyone.
[MUSIC PLAYING]