What is Mobile App Consent?
Cookie information’s Mobile App Consent is a tool that helps you collect consent from the users of your app. GDPR compliance on your app is but a click away.
Apps, tracking and compliance
Is your business also using an app to sell or communicate with your customers?
Then there are a couple of things you should know about tracking and compliance.
Here we explain what a professional Mobile App Consent solution is and how you can collect your users’ consent with it.
We will go through:
What is Mobile App Consent?
A mobile app consent solution is a tool that gives you the ability to collect your users’ consents on your mobile applications.
It is a software development kit (SDK) that can be installed into your app like other SDK’s you might be using like for example Google’s Firebase.
The SDK collects your users’ consents in the same way your website does and is required to by international privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA.
This allows you to ensure your users’ privacy when using your app.
After your users’ have given consent, we securely store the consent so you can – at any time – retrieve it if you need to document consents to the authorities.
With Mobile App Consent you can collect valid consent for:
- Newsletter sign-ups
- Privacy Policy updates
- Tracking (ads or analytics)
- Age restrictions (e.g. if you sell alcohol)
Or any personal information you – or a third-party SDK – would like to collect with your app.
Why do you need to collect consents in your mobile app?
Because… privacy regulations.
Yes, regulations like the GDPR, ePrivacy and the Californian CCPA all require that you obtain your users’ consent before you collect their personal information.
Information that in many cases are shared with – and processed by – third parties for marketing purposes.
And now that many businesses, maybe also yours, have developed a mobile-first strategy, it becomes increasingly important also to focus on your app users’ privacy.
So, here’s a short overview in non-legal language on how you can comply with these privacy regulations in your app.
Cookie Information can help your business achieve all these goals.
With the Mobile App Consent SDK, your business app can be a first mover in the world of mobile app privacy.
Link: What is the GDPR?
What type of data do apps collect?
Like on your website, you’d also like to know who uses your app, what they like and how you can target them with personalized ads.
For that, you may use an SDK like StoreKit, Firebase Analytics or AdMob that gives you some insights on user behavior and performance.
The SDK’s of course collect your users’ personal data like device ID and location to show you these metrics.
But it doesn’t stop there! These SDK’s may also collect more detailed personal identifiable information (PII) like email addresses, phone numbers, usernames and addresses if available through trackers.
For example, Google’s mobile development platform, the Firebase SDK offers marketeers a lot of exiting opportunities.
Since Firebase integrates easily with other Google advertising tools like Google Ads, Google Analytics etc., it can deliver you a lot of data that you can use for marketing.
However, Firebase Google also collects and processes your users’ data (device IDs, Android Ad ID, Ad identifiers for iOS, interest and demographic data).
And that requires consent.
What is Google Firebase
Firebase is a Software Development Kit (SDK) that app developers install in their apps to give them a range of tools for performance monitoring, crash reporting and analytics etc.
It is one of the most popular SDK's for both Android and iOS and also a necessity for using Google Analytics and other of Google’s services for apps. Like many of Google products, Firebase SDK is a free platform.
How do apps collect data?
Mobile apps do not use cookies the way websites do. They use something called Software Development Kits (SDK), for example Google’s Firebase SDK.
These SDK’s still collect information which can be categorized similarly to the purposes that cookies have i.e., necessary purposes, functional, statistical and marketing purposes.
And each app has a specific purpose.
Then, if you are using an SDK in your app like Apple’s StoreKit, Google’s Firebase or AdMob, then the SDK will harvest your users’ personal data and send it back to the SDK.
How are consents stored in apps?
Well, apps don’t really store your users’ consent. Consent Management Platforms do.
When you implement a Mobile App Consent SDK into your app, then all consents are collected – also when users decline – and stored in a Consent Management Platform (CMP).
In a CMP, let’s use ours as example, you can register anything you need to collect consent for.
That can be anything you are required to collect consent for by the GDPR or any other local privacy regulation*.
Once you have implemented the Mobile App Consent SDK and given the platform information about which other SDKs you use, the app can start collecting consents. And then we store the consents.
Should you and your app end up in an audit by the Data Protection Authorities, we provide the necessary documentation and consent logs.
*We can help collect consent for anything: age restrictions, newsletter subscriptions, membership clubs, tracking, policy updates, you name it.
What does Mobile App Consent look like for your user?
You decide! You can style your consent banner for your app any way you like it. You can customize it, you can personalize it, you can add logo, change color, write the text. There’s no end to the possibilities.
This gives you the freedom to make your app consent solution fit your company UX.
Or, if you want a standard, yet super solid, template.. then we are working on it.
How can Cookie Information help your app?
First of all, we have developed a Mobile App Consent Solution that we are proud of.
It is easy to implement for you or your app developer; it satisfies your legal department as it is GDPR, ePrivacy and CCPA compliant; and finally, it is geared for obtaining a high number of consents to tracking.
With our Mobile App Consent, you can:
- Install the Mobile App Consent SDK directly into your app
- Create any consent form you would like (e.g. for tracking, newsletters, change of policy etc.)
- Customize your consent pop-up to fit your app's UI/UX
- Securely store all consents in our CMP (actually, we do that for you)
- Comply with GDPR, CCPA, PDPA and other local privacy regulations
- Get a solution that supports +40 languages!
Here’s a more thorough implementation guide for developers. Read it, share it, comment on it.
Join the Mobile App Consent program now!
Joining our Mobile App Consent program will enable you to collect and document valid consents on your mobile apps.
We offer you:
- Guidance from dedicated account managers throughout the implementation phase
- Help and support from industry and compliance experts on any issues or questions you might have
