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Plain-English summary
Apple retains personal data related to purchases and downloads for up to 30 years in some regions (risk_flags-1). Apple may automatically update and retain payment card information for future transactions (risk_flags-2). Your playback history from Apple TV channels and subscriptions is retained for reporting and royalty requirements even after clearing your play history (risk_flags-3). Inferred demographic data, such as age and gender, may be shared with strategic partners (risk_flags-4). Apple computes a device trust score based on device usage, including phone calls and emails, for purchases (data_use-1), and may share information with third-party platform providers when the app is used on non-Apple devices (data_use-2). Your location may be used for geographically relevant ads (data_use-3), and activity data is collected for kid profiles (data_use-4). Apple also processes data based on its 'legitimate interests' for various purposes.
89% confidence
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Risk Flags
4 findings
Potentially harmful terms that could lead to unexpected monetary loss, privacy invasion, or legal disadvantages.
high95% confidence
Data retention for up to 30 years in some regions.
Personal data associated with purchases and downloads may be retained for at least 10 years, and up to 30 years in certain regions like China.
Why it matters: Apple retains personal data related to purchases and downloads for up to 30 years in some regions, which means your data could be stored for a long time.
We retain personal data associated with your purchases, downloads, and viewing activity on the Apple TV app for different lengths of time depending on business need, contractual obligations, and legal requirements. For purchases and downloads, that often requires at least a 10-year retention period, but in regions such as China that period can be 30 years.
Payment card details may be automatically updated and retained.
Apple may retain and automatically update your card number and billing information for future purchases, recurring transactions, or other authorized uses.
Why it matters: Apple may retain and automatically update your payment card details, which could lead to unauthorized or unexpected transactions if not carefully managed.
When you use a payment card, Apple may retain and automatically update your card number and billing information for future purchases, recurring transactions, or other uses you authorize.
Playback history retained for reporting and royalty requirements.
Even after clearing your play history, Apple will retain records of play history from Apple TV channels and your Apple TV subscription for reporting and royalty requirements.
Why it matters: Even if you clear your play history, Apple will still retain records of your playback activity from Apple TV channels and subscriptions for reporting and royalty purposes, meaning not all viewing data is permanently deleted.
However, Apple will retain records of play history from Apple TV channels and your Apple TV subscription for reporting and royalty requirements.
Inferred demographics may be shared with partners.
Apple may share non-personal data, including aggregated user demographics like age group and gender inferred from information such as your name and salutation, with Apple TV strategic partners.
Why it matters: Apple may share non-personal data, including inferred demographic information like age and gender, with strategic partners, which could lead to your data being used by other companies based on assumptions.
For example, we may share non-personal data about your transactions, viewing activity, and region, as well as aggregated user demographics such as age group and gender (which may be inferred from information such as your name and salutation in your Apple Account), to Apple TV strategic partners, such as content owners, so that they can measure the performance of their creative work, meet royalty and accounting requirements, and improve their associated products and services.
Details about how your data is collected, processed, and shared.
medium90% confidence
Device trust score computed using device usage information.
Apple computes a device trust score when you attempt a purchase, using information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive.
Why it matters: Apple computes a 'device trust score' based on your device usage, including communication patterns like phone calls and emails, which is used when making purchases.
To help identify and prevent fraud, information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive, will be used to compute a device trust score when you attempt a purchase.
Apple TV App & Privacy, paragraph 3 · Citation strength: strong
medium90% confidence
Data shared with third-party platform providers for non-Apple devices.
If you sign in to the Apple TV app on a non-Apple device, Apple may share information with the platform provider to enable the app to function, including whether you have opened the app and subscribed to Apple TV and channels.
Why it matters: When using the Apple TV app on non-Apple devices, Apple may share information about your usage and subscriptions with the device's platform provider, potentially impacting your privacy on those third-party platforms.
If you sign in to the Apple TV app on a non-Apple device, Apple may share information with the platform provider to enable the app to function, so that content from your Apple TV subscriptions appears on the platform, and to support platform features such as providing search results and personalized recommendations. This may include information about whether you have opened the Apple TV app and, where available, whether you have subscribed to Apple TV and Apple TV channels.
If you allow the Apple TV app to access your location, your location may be used to serve geographically relevant ads.
Why it matters: If you allow location access, your precise location data can be used to serve you targeted advertisements, which could be an unwanted privacy exposure.
In the Apple TV app, if you allow the Apple TV app to access your location, your location may be used to serve geographically relevant ads.
Apple TV App & Privacy, paragraph 4 · Citation strength: strong
medium90% confidence
Profile activity data collected for kid profiles.
For kid profiles, Apple collects a persistent identifier and activity data (like search and watch history) for purposes of providing and improving the Apple TV app and its features, as well as for fraud and security purposes.
Why it matters: For kid profiles, Apple collects an identifier and activity data, including search and watch history, meaning children's usage data is tracked and stored.
For kid profiles, we will collect a persistent identifier associated with the kid profile to provide an age-appropriate experience on the Apple TV app to the user of that profile. We will use the identifier and the kid profile’s activity data (like search and watch history) for the purposes of providing the Apple TV app to the user of that profile, improving the profiles feature and the Apple TV app, and for fraud and security purposes.
Terms related to account cancellation, subscription renewal, and associated data handling.
✓
Looking good
No billing surprises spotted
Verbaterm only flags concerns it can cite. No cancellation, auto-renewal, or refund terms needed attention here.
Gotchas
All clear
Other terms that are not necessarily harmful, but are worth noting due to common user complaints or unexpected behavior.
✓
Looking good
No hidden gotchas
Verbaterm only flags concerns it can cite. Nothing easy-to-miss stood out in this section.
Protections
9 findings
Terms that are beneficial to the user and protect their rights or data.
Protection95% confidence
Ability to clear play history and remove items from Watchlist.
Users can clear their entire play history, which removes TV shows and movies from their Watchlist and disassociates past playback history from their account. Individual items can also be removed from the Watchlist.
Why it helps: Users have control over their viewing history and can choose to clear it or remove specific items from their Watchlist, helping to manage their privacy.
You can clear your play history in the Apple TV app in Settings. In the Apple TV app on your iOS, iPadOS, or visionOS device, go to Account > Privacy & Access > Clear Play History. In the Apple TV app on your Mac, go to TV > Settings > Advanced > Clear Play History. On tvOS, go to Settings > Apps > TV > Clear Play History. This will remove all TV shows and movies from your Watchlist and disassociate any past playback history from your account. This will apply to your play data that is held and used by Apple on devices that use the same Apple Account.
Option to delete third-party app play data collected by Apple.
Users can choose to delete all play data Apple has collected about content watched from a specific third-party app, or all third-party content by clearing their play history.
Why it helps: Users can selectively delete play data collected by Apple from connected third-party apps, giving them more granular control over their privacy.
When removing a third-party app from the Apple TV app, you may also choose to delete all play data information Apple has collected about content you’ve watched from that app by choosing the Remove and Clear Play History option. At any time, you may also choose to delete all of your play data information Apple has collected about all third-party content you watch in the Apple TV app by clearing your play history as described above.
Users can disconnect third-party apps from the Apple TV app at any time, which will stop Apple from collecting play data from that app.
Why it helps: Users retain control over which third-party apps share data with Apple TV, allowing them to stop data collection if they choose.
If at any time you decide you no longer want one of your third-party apps to be connected to the Apple TV app, you may disconnect that app from the Apple TV app and Apple will stop collecting your play data from that third-party app.
Users can choose to turn off Personalized Ads to prevent Apple from using their information for ad targeting, making ads less relevant.
Why it helps: Users have the option to opt out of personalized advertising, giving them control over how their data is used for ad targeting and potentially reducing unwanted specific advertisements.
If you do not want to receive ads targeted to your interests from Apple’s advertising platform, you can choose to turn off Personalized Ads. Turning off Personalized Ads will prevent Apple from using your information for ad targeting. It may not decrease the number of ads you receive, but the ads may be less relevant to you.
Apple TV App & Privacy, paragraph 4 · Citation strength: strong
Protection90% confidence
Option to turn off personalization features.
Users can turn off personalization features for their Apple Account, which includes personalized recommendations for various Apple services like the App Store, Apple Books, and Apple TV.
Why it helps: Users can control the personalization of their experience across various Apple services, allowing them to opt out of targeted recommendations.
You can turn off personalization features in the App Store, Apple Books, the iTunes Store, Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, and for subscriptions from Apple by turning off Personalized Recommendations for your Apple Account.
Apple TV App & Privacy, paragraph 4 · Citation strength: strong
Protection90% confidence
No collection of SharePlay participant identities.
When using SharePlay, the Apple TV app collects that content was watched during a session and the number of participating devices, but it does not collect information to identify the participants.
Why it helps: Privacy is maintained during collaborative viewing sessions as Apple does not collect data to identify individual participants in SharePlay.
If you use SharePlay to watch content with other users, the Apple TV app will collect that you watched that content during a SharePlay session and the number of devices that participated in the session, but does not collect any information to identify the participants of a SharePlay session.
Apple TV App & Privacy, paragraph 4 · Citation strength: strong
Protection90% confidence
IP address discarded after country determination.
Apple may use the IP address of your internet connection to determine your country or region for licensing purposes, but discards the IP address and any derived location information once this determination is made.
Why it helps: Apple promptly discards your IP address and derived location data after determining your region for licensing, reducing the retention of this specific personal information.
Apple may separately use the IP address of your internet connection to determine the country or region from which you are accessing the service to ensure we have the necessary licensing rights for you to play the content you’ve selected. We discard the IP address, and any location information derived from the IP address, once this determination has been made.
Apple TV App & Privacy, paragraph 4 · Citation strength: strong
Protection90% confidence
Watch history of child accounts not used for group recommendations.
If a child account is part of a group with Group Recommendations enabled, recommendations for children will be included, but their watch history will not be used.
Why it helps: The watch history of child accounts is explicitly excluded from being used for group recommendations, providing a layer of privacy for children's viewing habits.
If a child account is in the group, recommendations for children will be included, but their watch history will not be used.
Clear statement on purpose of kid profile identifier and activity data.
For kid profiles, Apple collects a persistent identifier and activity data (like search and watch history) for providing and improving the Apple TV app, and for fraud/security, with appropriate measures to prevent unrelated use or disclosure.
Why it helps: Apple explicitly states that kid profile identifiers and associated activity data are used for specific purposes (app provision, improvement, fraud/security) and takes measures to prevent unrelated use or disclosure, which helps clarify and limit data use for children's data.
For kid profiles, we will collect a persistent identifier associated with the kid profile to provide an age-appropriate experience on the Apple TV app to the user of that profile. We will use the identifier and the kid profile’s activity data (like search and watch history) for the purposes of providing the Apple TV app to the user of that profile, improving the profiles feature and the Apple TV app, and for fraud and security purposes. Apple will take appropriate measures to ensure that the identifier and associated information is not used or disclosed for unrelated purposes.