Google Play Data safety form, section by section

The Data safety form is where you tell Google what user data your app collects and shares, and how you protect it. Google shows the result on your store listing as the Data safety section (Play Console Help).

It isn't only for production. Google says every app published on Google Play must complete it, "including apps on closed, open, or production testing tracks". Only apps that are active exclusively on internal testing are exempt (Play Console Help). If you're preparing the closed test that new personal accounts must run before production (Play Console Help), do this form first.

Before you open the form

Google recommends three checks (Play Console Help):

• A privacy policy. It's required to complete the form, even if your app collects nothing. See privacy policy for an Android app.
• Your own code. Review the permissions you declare and the APIs you use.
• Every SDK. Google says you "must reflect data collection or sharing carried out by such third-party code" in the form. Google suggests reading your SDK providers' published Data safety information and checking the Play SDK Index for a link to it.

Make a list: each SDK (analytics, crash reporting, ads, sign-in, payments, push), what it sends, and where.

Where the form is

Open Play Console, go to the App content page (Monitor and improve > Policy and programs > App content), and under "Data safety" select Start (Play Console Help).

You can save a draft at any time. You can also export your answers to CSV, or download Google's sample CSV, fill it offline and import it (Play Console Help).

Section 1: Overview

A summary of the questions to come. Read it and select Next.

Section 2: Data collection and security

First question: does your app collect or share any of the required user data types? Answer Yes or No.

If you answer Yes, two more questions follow (Play Console Help):

• Is all of the user data collected by your app encrypted in transit?
• Do you provide a way for users to request that their data is deleted?

The form also contains Data deletion questions, which Google made mandatory for every developer: if your app lets users create an account, you must provide an in-app path to delete it and a web link where users can request deletion (Play Console Help). More on that in the traps below.

Section 3: Data types

Select every type your app collects or shares. Google's categories are: Location, Personal info, Financial info, Health and fitness, Messages, Photos and videos, Audio files, Files and docs, Calendar, Contacts, App activity, Web browsing, App info and performance, and Device or other IDs (Play Console Help).

Two that small apps often forget:

• App info and performance > Crash logs and Diagnostics. Any crash reporting SDK sends these.
• Device or other IDs. Google's examples include the Firebase installation ID and the advertising identifier.

Section 4: Data usage and handling

For each selected type, select Start and answer:

• Collected, shared, or both?
• Processed ephemerally? Only if the data stays in memory and is kept no longer than needed for the request in real time. Building advertising or user profiles is never ephemeral.
• Required or optional? Optional only if every user, in every region and on every device, can use the app without providing it.
• Why? One or more purposes: App functionality, Analytics, Developer communications, Advertising or marketing, Fraud prevention, security, and compliance, Personalization, Account management.

All of this comes from Google's definitions on the same page (Play Console Help).

Section 5: Store listing preview

Google shows what users will see on Google Play. Check it, then Submit. Back lets you change answers, Save as draft keeps your progress, and Discard changes means starting over.

What "collect" and "share" mean

Google's definitions decide most answers (Play Console Help).

Collect means transmitting data off the user's device, by your code or by an SDK, to your server or to anyone else's.

Not collection:

• Data processed only on the device.
• Data protected by end-to-end encryption that no intermediary, including you, can read.

Share means transferring user data to a third party, server to server, to another app on the device, or straight from an SDK.

Not sharing:

• Transfers to a service provider that processes data on your behalf and on your instructions.
• Transfers for legal purposes.
• Transfers the user starts and expects, or that follow a prominent in-app disclosure and consent.
• Fully anonymized data.

The traps

Third-party SDKs

Google is explicit: an analytics or cloud provider working only for you is typically a service provider. But "if an SDK provider is building advertising profiles across multiple customers based on your app data", that's sharing, and you must declare it (Play Console Help).

Ads SDKs also bring a permission. Apps that target Android 13 or higher and use the advertising ID need com.google.android.gms.permission.AD_ID, and SDKs such as the Google Mobile Ads SDK merge it into your manifest even if you never wrote it (Play Console Help). Google says the advertising ID is declared as "Device or other identifiers".

Encryption in transit

Say Yes only if it's true for everything. Google's SDK guidance says developers "can only declare encryption in transit if it applies to all user data that their app (including all its SDKs and libraries) collects and transmits off the user's device". Common protocols are TLS and HTTPS (Play Console Help). One SDK still sending over plain HTTP makes the answer No.

Account deletion

If users can create an account in your app, or the app sends them to an account creation flow elsewhere, Google requires (Play Console Help):

• An in-app path to delete the account and its associated data.
• A web link where users can request deletion without reinstalling the app. The page must load, show the deletion path prominently, and name the app or developer as on your store listing.

Deactivating or "freezing" an account doesn't count. If you keep some data for security, fraud prevention or legal reasons, say so, for example in your privacy policy (Play Console Help).

The deletion request badge

You may select it if you give users a way to request data deletion, or if you automatically delete or anonymize collected data within 90 days (Play Console Help).

Smaller cases Google answers directly

• Permission declared but data not collected: no need to declare it.
• IP address used to find location: declare location.
• Payments through Google Play's billing system, PayPal or similar: no need to declare the card number, if your app never accesses it and the payment service collects it directly.
• WebViews: declare data collected through a WebView your app controls, not open web browsing.
• One form per package: it covers the sum of every version of your app currently on Google Play, in every country.

All from Google's FAQ on the Data safety page.

After you submit

Google checks the form as part of app review, but that review "is not designed to verify the accuracy and completeness" of your answers. You alone are responsible for them. If Google finds a discrepancy with how your app behaves, it can require a fix and, for apps that don't comply, block updates or remove the app (Play Console Help).

When the submission is compliant, a green check mark appears next to "Data safety" on the App content page. Update the form each time your data practices change, for example when you add an SDK during the 14-day test. Google's User Data policy also requires the form to stay consistent with your privacy policy (Play Console Help).

For the rest of the closed test setup, see how to set up closed testing.