Google to bring Privacy Sandbox for Android

Google is serious about improving data privacy standards on Android. As of now, Google has announced a multi-year initiative to create an Android Privacy Sandbox. The goal behind this is to focus on individual data privacy when sharing data with advertisers and limit data sharing with third parties. The effects of this initiative will begin to reach consumers in April 2022 as part of Google Play updates.

The Privacy Sandbox has been around for Google Search for some time now and Google now wants to bring the same thing to Android. The company says it wants to strengthen user privacy but not at the cost of restricting access to free content and services. Doing a dig at Apple, Google says it doesn't want to restrict existing technologies that could hurt users in the long run.

Privacy Sandbox comes to Android

"Our goal with the Privacy Sandbox on Android is to develop effective and privacy-enhancing advertising solutions, where users know their information is protected, and developers and businesses have the tools to succeed on mobile. While we design, build and test these new solutions, we plan to support existing ads platform features for at least two years, and we intend to provide substantial notice ahead of any future changes," says Google.

"We're also committed to working closely with regulators. We've offered public commitments for our Privacy Sandbox efforts on the web, including ensuring that we don't give preferential treatment to Google's ads products or sites. We'll apply these principles to our Android work as well, and continue working with the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and others," adds Google.

"Specifically, these solutions will limit sharing of user data with third parties and operate without cross-app identifiers, including advertising ID. We're also exploring technologies that reduce the potential for covert data collection, including safer ways for apps to integrate with advertising SDK," says Google.

In another tip from Mishaal Rahmaan, Google is said to be working on a solution to remove the Advertising ID from all versions of Android. It was initially announced with Android 12 last year, but now it is said that Google will bring this feature to older versions of Android from April 2022. Also, Google Play Policy is said not to allow developers to track data in apps. for children. This feature will be available on Android 12 and newer devices starting April 1, 2022.