In an effort to provide transparency and accountability in app development, Google Play introduced the Data safety section in May 2021. This crucial page helps developers like you complete the requirements for data disclosure when using the Google Home Mobile SDK.

As a swift app developer, it's essential to understand how your app handles end-user data, including any applicable configurations or invocations you can control as the app creator. On this page, we'll provide valuable insights on whether and how our SDK handles end-user data, helping you complete the requirements for the Data safety section form.

Understanding Your Role

As a swift app developer, you are solely responsible for deciding how to respond to Google Play's Data safety section form regarding your app's end-user data collection, sharing, and security practices. We're committed to supporting you throughout this process, but it's crucial to understand that the onus is on you to ensure compliance with these requirements.

Leveraging the Information on This Page

This page provides a comprehensive overview of the end-user data collected by only the latest version of the Google Home Mobile SDK. You'll find information on both automatic and usage-based data collection, helping you determine which data types are relevant for your app.

To complete the data disclosure for your app, we recommend using Android's data types guide to help you determine which data type best describes the collected data. In your data disclosure, be sure to account for how your specific app shares and uses the collected data.

SDK Data Collection

The Google Home Mobile SDK provides Matter APIs built into Google Play services to enable swift app development for billions of Android devices. The SDK collects information about its interactions with Matter devices, including commissioning events, sharing events, device information, mobile device information, and client app information.

This metadata is used to monitor the adoption rate of different SDK releases by different apps, as well as understand which SDK features have been integrated into various mobile apps. Additionally, the SDK collects non-user-specific data that allows Google to improve the Google Home experience for users.

Data Retention and Security

The SDK collects all data anonymously, ensuring logs do not contain any identifiers that can be traced back to a specific user. The collected data is only retained for a short period before being deleted. Before deletion, the data is aggregated to obtain high-level product performance metrics, which are used to improve the SDK.

For each data type listed:

  • The SDK transmits encrypted analytics data off the device through a Google log collection server to Google's data analytics pipeline.
  • The collected data is used in aggregate form to improve the SDK: to monitor overall SDK usage and performance, and to detect software defects in the product.
  • The SDK enabled third-party usage sharing with app developers that use the SDK. Data collected by Google can be used to monitor your Matter project's reliability made available to developers through Google Cloud Analytics for Matter.

App-Level Notes

  • All data transmitted from the SDK is encrypted in transit.
  • Neither the app developer nor the users of the app utilizing this SDK can opt out of data collection or delete their data.