GDPR Compliance For Mobile Apps- What You Need To Know

Consumers’ data must be kept confidential, but again there’s no denying that data sharing, without the consent of the user, is a common practice. To counter this, the European Union passed a law called GDPR that is aimed towards making users’ data more secure. Today, we will discuss what is GDPR and how to be GDPR compliant or make your app GDPR compliant.

What is GDPR?

General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR is a data protection and privacy regulation in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA) that came into effect on May 25, 2018. The primary purpose of GDPR is to provide EU residents with better control over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory compliance for international businesses. This law applies to any business, regardless of its location, that collects and processes personal data of individuals residing in the EU region, irrespective of their citizenship or permanent residence.

Put simply, businesses that are associated with the members of EU countries will have to comply with this privacy law. Failure to comply with it or the violation of its privacy and security standards can result in strict fines and penalties. So, if you are an app developer or a business owner and have a website/app that deals with EU users, you must strictly take this into account and make your app GDPR compliant.

GDPR offers various rights to EU individuals such as the right to be informed, right to rectification, right to data portability, etc.

How to make your mobile app GDPR compliant?

In order to be GDPR compliant, app owners and appreneurs should specify what, where, and why the user data is being used.

But the question that arises is what adjustments do you need to make or introduce in your mobile app to comply with the GDPR law? Find your answers in our detailed guide on how to be GDPR compliant and keep the user data safe.

1. Review data that you collect

There are different ways through which an app collects user data such as through email logins, social profiles, or during transactions. But not every information that you gather is necessary or helpful. Analyze what type of data you obtain from users and see if you can bring some changes to it.

While trying to make your app GDPR compliant, keep a check on the third-party tools you have integrated into your app. If they do not follow the GDPR guidelines, you will be held responsible should anything go wrong.

2. Seek permission

For every information that you collect or want to collect, be it for advertising or marketing, you will have to ask for the user’s permission. Anything that happens unbeknownst to the users regarding their personal data goes against GDPR. Alongside asking for the user’s consent, you will have to specify the purpose of collecting that data so that users are aware as to why and where their data is being used. Place a checkbox that asks users to click and confirm their consent.

3. Restructure your Privacy Policy

To be GDPR compliant, it is suggested that you update your privacy policy with a clear and transparent explanation of what data you collect, how it is being used, where the information goes, and whether it is being shared with any third-party service provider. The language should be explicit enough for users to understand. It not only benefits your mobile app users but it’s a requirement from the app stores as well.

To comply with GDPR or make your app GDPR compliant, display these terms and conditions to users and inform them should any change takes place. Also, inform users asap if there is a data breach.

4. Adopt the ‘Privacy by Design’ Concept

Privacy by Design is a concept that focuses on protecting the privacy of individuals by considering the privacy issues right from the beginning of product development or other business practices and then integrating them with the required privacy solutions. Here, you must decide what data is absolutely necessary and what data you don’t really require. Doing this at the early phase of a project allows you to create a compliance-friendly platform from the initial stage by fixing those issues which are generally left afterthought.

5. Data Encryption

By using the data encryption method for users’ personal data, companies can minimize the probability of a data breach, thereby reducing the risk of future penalties and fines as well. The encryption process uses a key to convert clear text into a hashed code, where the outgoing information only becomes readable again by using the correct key, thus preventing third parties from reading the encrypted content.

The users’ data should be encrypted so that if any cyber-attack happens, hackers can’t get away with it. You must use the most advanced encryption algorithms to store user data and keep it safe. 

6. Two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication is a two-step security process to verify that the person trying to access or log in to your account is none other than you. It basically confirms whether the request has been made by the actual owner or not by presenting the user with a second step, such as a security token, to enable access.

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your account. This was introduced to prevent hackers from accessing your account easily and also because security questions were no more reliable as they could be retrieved through the social profiles of the users.

Integrating this into your mobile app is a great way to comply with GDPR and ensures that users don’t lose control of their account in any way.

7. Delete user data on request

GDPR also offers individuals the “right to be forgotten” which means that a business will have to erase or delete customer data on the user’s request. So, making your app GDPR compliant means that the users can raise a request for the erasure of their data collected by the app, without any delay, if it is no longer needed for the purpose it was initially collected. Users can also pull out their consent to use data if they find out that it is unlawfully processed.

Businesses, in order to comply with this law, must allow mobile app users a way to permanently delete their account, or delete themselves if requested.

8. Subject Access Request

Subject Access Request or SAR plays a key role in GDPR that allows users to request the company to receive a copy of their personal data collected by them. Personal data here covers both paper and digital records. You are legally bound to answer these requests. You have usually one month to respond if your mobile app users request a copy of their data, however, it can be stretched to a maximum of two months if the requests placed are complex or in high numbers.

Summing Up

We suggest that you review the GDPR compliance guidelines thoroughly and see what steps do you need to follow for your mobile app to comply with this user data protection and privacy law. If your business isn’t linked to EU citizens in any way, you don’t need to worry about this compliance. But if it does deal with them, update your privacy policy or other internal systems that ask for user information, in accordance with the GDPR law.

We, at Dew, ensure that every app we develop for our clients, having their business associated with the individuals of the EU region, is GDPR compliant.