Gmail iOS App Has Out of Date Warning After 2 Months of No Updates as Google Delays Privacy Labels [Updated]

[jk1221]

Hmm. Perhaps Google is considering dumping some of their iOS apps then. Gmail would certainly be a prime candidate.

People are assuming this is about the privacy label, when it may be more about the 'opt out of tracking' button.

Seriously doubt it. Gmail has 53% of the US email market, 130.9 million users. And iPhones are over 50% of the US smartphone market; about that same 53%

With a good chunk of people using the Gmail app. It has something like 8 million downloads per month.

I would say that is not very likely since access to the service is how they make money.

 

[haruhiko]

Google would rather have all their apps not updated for another year than disclosing what they are tracking you.

Note: Google is just taking care of the mental well being of their users. The psychological shock once you see the labels will not be good to our health.

 

[IG88]

Seriously doubt it. Gmail has 53% of the US email market, 130.9 million users. And iPhones are over 50% of the US smartphone market; about that same 53%

With a good chunk of people using the Gmail app. It has something like 8 million downloads per month.

I would say that is not very likely.

Good point. They still could be working on a workaround for the tracking opt in. Like @dwaite said above, perhaps some sort of redirect to have you log directly into your Google account through Safari.

If no tracking in app, no privacy label to disclose.

 

[ichickon]

People are reading too much into this, they simply have not had anything to update on the iOS side, thus no update for a few months, take off your tin foil hats people. /s

Except force quit google maps and then try to deep link to directions. You get an eternal spinner. A regression that has been hanging out there now since December. It's the privacy thing.

comgooglemaps://?daddr=John+F.+Kennedy+International+Airport,+Van+Wyck+Expressway,+Jamaica,+New+York

 

[dwaite]

If no tracking in app, no privacy label to disclose.

The privacy label is separate from that - you have to disclose what you do with user information and what you share with third parties. It is about Personally Identifying Information, not just tracking and analytics.

There's no real workarounds other than "stop doing that" and "stop sharing that". But Google is big enough that a lot of stuff is still first-party, which looks better.

Apple does have a benefit in privacy labels, in that functionality is distributed around the phone in different apps. A Facebook Messenger app which lets you transfer money would have to indicate they share banking information with other parties, while iMessage just lets the Apple Pay app drop in as an app extension.

 

[_Spinn_]

Lol. Google must still be talking to their lawyers to figure out how to skirt the tracking rules before they push out updates and have to fess up to everything.

 

[luvbug]

Gmail, 1 billion active monthly users worldwide. Outlook, more than 400 million active users worldwide. Yahoo Mail, 225 million active monthly users.

In the US? 246 million monthly email users. 130.9 million Gmail, 42 million Yahoo, 34.5 million Outlook.com, 19.8 million AOL, 4.9 million iCloud, 2.5 million Comcast.

They all do it maybe minus Apple (we really don't know what they do with those). So basically 98% of consumer email used. 85% of email users in the US use those top 3. The issue is no one is willing to pay for email to get junk. And even then, like paying for Comcast service, they STILL mine your data.

Google is not unique here. That's distorting reality a bit with the big bad Google as if most major companies don't do the same. It's also a tradeoff for a good product.

Without getting into a complex privacy debate, there is simply nowhere to go except something like Proton or other niche services; which cost money to basically be spammed.

People simply are not going to top using Gmail over a privacy label; the bulk or regular people will never even read it.

I use Apple and Proton, and I do not get spammed.

 

[jk1221]

I use Apple and Proton, and I do not get spammed.

You do realize that when you give out your email address or sign up with sites they sell it to marketers.

Literally, zero to do with what mail service you use.

 

[IG88]

The privacy label is separate from that - you have to disclose what you do with user information and what you share with third parties. It is about Personally Identifying Information, not just tracking and analytics.

There's no real workarounds other than "stop doing that" and "stop sharing that". But Google is big enough that a lot of stuff is still first-party, which looks better.

Apple does have a benefit in privacy labels, in that functionality is distributed around the phone in different apps. A Facebook Messenger app which lets you transfer money would have to indicate they share banking information with other parties, while iMessage just lets the Apple Pay app drop in as an app extension.

Yes, but in this hypothetical, Google prompts you to login through Safari, seamlessly...so technically all tracking happens through Safari, and nothing through the actual Gmail app.

 

[Dopestar]

Not surprised, like majority of people expressed, Apple informed all developers regarding the requirements ahead of time.

 

[edgonzalez32]

Yes, Google is clearly well intentioned but sadly too busy /s

Glad you can really contribute to the conversation. Thanks for really adding to it.

 

[-BigMac-]

“google just super cares about your privacy” thats why😉

 

[coolfactor]

Without getting into a complex privacy debate, there is simply nowhere to go except something like Proton or other niche services; which cost money to basically be spammed.

I use Runbox (similar to Proton in the sense that it's outside of North American and a strong focus on privacy), and do not get spammed. If by "get spammed", you're referring to those services' inability to properly identify and catch spam vs. Google/Outlook/iCloud, you would be mistaken. Effective spam filtering is a well-understood science that any provider can implement correctly. I do consider @yahoo users to be unique in that they are spammed way more than other users.

 

[coolfactor]

Update: Google has pushed a server side update that removes the out of date warning when attempting to sign into a new account in the Gmail app.

So they push an update to remove a warning that the user is using a potentially insecure app just to not look bad themselves? Pathetic!

But then again, at least they had the wisdom to be displaying such a warning in the first place. How many apps do we use that are insecure and yet fail to protect us from that?

 

[Michael Scrip]

Every email you send or receive with GMail goes through Google anyway, right?

So Google could turn off all "tracking" in the iOS app... and they'd still get plenty of data.

If you really want "privacy" then you shouldn't be using email. It's the least private form of messaging ever created.

 

[coolfactor]

I thought Google had come to terms with the new Apple requirements and were updating their apps accordingly. I remember reading something here a while back about them updating the SDK to better comply. Maybe I have my information crossed, and if I do please correct me. That was just the impression I had gotten.

To comply, they must list all the ways that they are using our personal data, and that list is going to be very, very long, just like Facebook's list. They don't want to remove any tracking because it's directly tied to their revenue streams. Apple does provide an "anonymous" tracking feature where advertisers can track how many times an ad is viewed, but it comes with significantly less information and doesn't track across apps/sites/platforms like the existing tracking allows.

 

[coolfactor]

Every email you send or receive with GMail goes through Google anyway, right?

So Google could turn off all "tracking" in the iOS app... and they'd still get plenty of data.

If you really want "privacy" then you shouldn't be using email. It's the least private form of messaging ever created.

They used to scan emails for analysis to learn about you, but they no longer do, at least it's significantly reduced. So no, they don't have plenty of data simply because people are sending and receiving emails.

There are email-encryption technologies, but they are not very consumer friendly. Much like SSL Certificates being vastly improved by LetsEncrypt, I see email being the next big target of improvements. It's long overdue.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Update: Google has pushed a server side update that removes the out of date warning when attempting to sign into a new account in the Gmail app.

But, they haven't fixed the underlying problem, namely, that their iOS apps haven't been updated in two months and don't have the appropriate privacy disclosures? 🤷‍♂️🩹

 

[eicca]

People simply are not going to top using Gmail over a privacy label; the bulk or regular people will never even read it.

I for one have been strongly contemplating switching to an iCloud email account because of all of this... I don''t actually know what's involved yet but I'm a-thinkin'.

 

[Michael Scrip]

They used to scan emails for analysis to learn about you, but they no longer do, at least it's significantly reduced. So no, they don't have plenty of data simply because people are sending and receiving emails.

There are email-encryption technologies, but they are not very consumer friendly. Much like SSL Certificates being vastly improved by LetsEncrypt, I see email being the next big target of improvements. It's long overdue.

Oh ok... thank you.

So all their scanning is done inside their apps?

Good thing I use GMail on the web 99% of the time!

 

[MedRed]

You know it's bad when Google can't be straight forward and post the privacy situation.

 

[macfacts]

So much fake hate going around, quit acting surprised Google tracks users.

 

[GtrDude]

After having tried all the email apps available in the App Store I very much prefer Outlook.
I still use Mail for my basic icloud mail which I get one or two a week but the heavy worker on my phone is Outlook. It's a great app and the best email app, in my opinion, for the iphone.
The calendar also works fantastically well.....actually works...unlike the calendar app on the iphone where I'm still getting "Second Alert" as a default to 30 minutes and NOTHING in the actual Alert even though in the calendar settings I have Default Alert Times set on "None" for everything!
Outlook email (plus the calendar) are fantastic.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

Acknowledged, at least I owned up to it and changed my post.

Don’t bend your knee to negative losers using sarcasm which is against forums rules!

 

[vanilla.coffee]

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