How to Capture Consent in Mobile Applications

The use of mobile applications is on the rise and is projected to continue to grow year-over-year. In the first half of 2020, first-time app installs were up 26.1% year-over-year, reaching 71.5 billion downloads. As industry concerns rise around data privacy and tech giants provide guidance on tracking and personalization, app owners and developers should expand beyond the web to focus on how to provide transparency, control and trust in mobile applications.

GDPR and CCPA Guidance

From a privacy perspective, regulations such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have put a brighter spotlight on mobile app technologies and how apps collect data and share it with third parties.

According to the GDPR (Recital 30) and e-Privacy Dir. (Article (5) 3):

Individuals can be associated with online/device identifiers. Use or storage of information can only be done with consent

On the other hand, the CCPA (Section 1798.120) mentions:

A consumer can direct a business not to sell the consumer’s personal information. A ‘Sale’ is a transfer for monetary or Valuable Consideration.

Companies developing mobile solutions and delivering upon mobile-first strategies are seeking solutions to build intelligent, data-driven applications that respect user’s privacy, build trust and fuel brand loyalty.

Best Practices to Mobile App Compliance

How do you bring in compliance requirements, technology updates and a seamless user experience all into your mobile application? Here are best practices CookiePro recommends taking when building a privacy-centric approach to mobile applications.  

Scan Apps for Third-Party Tracking Technologies

Third-party data sharing is consistently a major topic across global privacy regulations. CookiePro enables businesses to demonstrate compliance by scheduling scans of their apps to identify privacy permissions, frameworks, and SDKs and make adjustments to their consent approach based on findings from the scans. As part of the auditing process, understand what data you are collecting, such as location or photos, and determine the identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) be used for iOS devices. Companies can export visual reports to help business units and developers gain an understanding of the app’s “privacy health.”

Collect Consent While Adhering to Global Regulations

CookiePro allows business to capture who consented, when it occurred, and what they were told upon consenting, while generating granular receipts to help demonstrate compliance. Organizations can leverage multiple consent approaches built directly into CookiePro or customize an approach to fit specific needs of their business. Upon collecting consent, CookiePro syncs consent and preferences settings across systems in real-time to ensure consistency for sales and marketing activities.

Eliminate Data Siloes with a Central Consent and Preference Database

Maintaining consent receipts and historical records are crucial activities to demonstrate compliance with GDPR and other global privacy regulations. Consent records and preference settings are centrally stored within CookiePro, allowing businesses to leverage the historical documentation for data audits and managing customer and data subject requests directly from the portal. Analytics and visual dashboards can be used to track progress of your privacy program and integrated with marketing and IT technologies via API.

Bringing it All Together Across Devices

A mobile application might just be one of the digital properties that you own. What about a cookie banner and preference center for web or an over-the-top application on a Connected TV (CTV). To streamline the user experience, leverage CookiePro to sync consent across devices.