Commitment and confidentiality

Apple’s Commitment to Your Privacy

Your privacy is important to Apple. This Privacy Commitment applies to how we collect, use, disclose, transfer, and store your data. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with our personal data protection practices and contact us if you have any questions.

Collection and Use of Personal Data

Personal data is information that can be used to identify or contact a specific individual.

You may be asked to provide your personal data anytime you are in contact with Apple or an affiliated company. Apple and its affiliates may share this personal data with each other and use it in accordance with this Privacy Commitment. They may also combine it with other information to provide and improve their products, services, content, and advertising. You are not required to provide the personal data that we request. However, if you choose not to provide it, we may not always be able to offer you our products and services or respond to your queries.

Here are some examples of the personal data that Apple may collect and how it may be used:

What Personal Data We Collect

When you create an Apple ID, apply for commercial credit, purchase a product, download a software update, register for a class at an Apple Retail Store, or participate in an online survey, we may collect a variety of information, including your name, mailing address, phone number, email address, contact preferences, and payment card details.

When you share your content with family and friends using Apple products, send gift certificates and products, or invite others to join you on Apple forums, Apple may collect the information you provide about those people (e.g., name, mailing address, email address, and phone number). Apple will use this information to fulfill your requests, provide the relevant products or services, or for anti-fraud purposes.

In certain jurisdictions, we may ask for a government-issued ID, but only in certain circumstances, such as when opening a mobile account and activating your device, when deciding whether to extend commercial credit, for managing reservations, or as required by law.

We may collect information such as occupation, language, zip code, area code, unique device identifier, referrer URL, location, and the time zone where an Apple product is used so that we can better understand customer behavior and improve our products, services, and advertising.

We may collect information regarding customer activities on our website, iCloud services, iTunes Store, App Store, MAC App Store, App Store for Apple TV, iBooks Stores, and from our other products and services. This information is aggregated and used to help us provide more useful information to our customers and to understand which parts of our website, products, and services are of most interest. Aggregated data is considered non-personal data for the purposes of this Privacy Commitment.

We may collect and store details of how you use our services, including search queries. This information may be used to improve the relevancy of results provided by our services. Except in rare cases to ensure the quality of our online services, this information will not be associated with your IP address.

With your explicit consent, we may collect information about your use of your device and applications to help developers improve their apps. If we combine non-personal data with personal data, the combined data will be treated as personal data as long as they remain associated.

Cookies and Other Technologies Apple’s websites, online services, interactive applications, emails, and advertisements may use “cookies” and other technologies such as “pixel tags” and web beacons. These technologies help us better understand user behavior, tell us which parts of our websites are most visited, and facilitate and measure the effectiveness of advertisements and web searches. We treat data collected by cookies and other technologies as non-personal data. However, to the extent that Internet Protocol (IP) addresses or similar identifiers are considered personal data by local law, we also treat these identifiers as personal data. Similarly, to the extent that non-personal data is associated with personal data, we treat the combined information as personal data for the purposes of this Privacy Commitment.

The ads served by Apple’s advertising platform may appear in Apple News and in the App Store. If you do not wish to receive targeted ads based on your interests from Apple’s advertising platform, you can choose to enable the Limit Ad Tracking option, which will prevent your Apple ID from receiving such ads on any device you use. If you enable Limit Ad Tracking on your mobile device, third-party apps cannot use the Advertising Identifier (a non-personal device identifier) to serve you targeted ads. You can still see ads in the App Store or Apple News based on context, such as your search request or the channel you are reading. In third-party apps, you may see ads based on other information.

Apple and its partners also use cookies and other technologies to remember your personal data when you use our website, online services, and applications. In this case, our goal is to make your visit more convenient and personalized. For example, knowing your first name allows us to welcome you on your next visit to the online Apple Store. Knowing your country and language – and if you are a teacher, the name of your school – allows us to offer you a more efficient personalized visit. Knowing that someone using your computer or device has purchased a certain product or used a particular service helps us make our advertising and electronic communications more relevant to your interests. Finally, knowing your contact details, hardware identifiers, and having information about your computer or device helps us personalize your operating system, set up your iCloud service, and provide you with better customer service.

If you use the Safari web browser and wish to disable cookies, go to Safari preferences, then to the Privacy panel where an option will allow you to manage your preferences. On your Apple mobile device, go to Settings > Safari, scroll down to the Privacy and Security section, and tap “Block Cookies” to manage your preferences. For other browsers, please consult your provider to find out how to disable cookies. Please note that some features of the Apple website will no longer be available once cookies are disabled.

Like many websites, we automatically collect certain information and store it in log files. This data includes Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, browser type and language, Internet Service Provider (ISP), referring and exit websites and applications, operating system, date/time stamp, and data about your journey on the site.

We use this data to understand and analyze trends, administer the site, learn about user behavior on the site, improve our products and services, and gather demographic information about our users as a whole. Apple may use this information for its marketing and advertising services.

In some of our email messages, we use a “click-through URL” linked to content on the Apple website. When customers click on one of these URLs, they pass through a separate web server before arriving at the destination page on our website. We track this click-through data to help us determine interest in particular topics and measure the effectiveness of our customer communications. If you prefer not to be tracked in this way, you should not click text or graphic links in email messages.

Pixel tags enable us to send email messages in a format customers can read, and they tell us whether the mail has been opened. We may use this information to reduce or eliminate messages sent to customers.

Disclosure to Third Parties Apple may make certain personal data available to strategic partners that work with Apple to provide products and services or help Apple market to customers. For example, when you purchase and activate your iPhone, you authorize Apple and your carrier to exchange the information you provide during the activation process to provide the service. As of the service activation, your account will be governed by Apple’s and your carrier’s respective privacy commitments. Personal data will only be shared by Apple to provide or improve its products, services, and advertising; it will not be shared with third parties for marketing purposes.

Service Providers Apple shares personal data with companies that provide services such as information processing, extending credit, fulfilling customer orders, delivering products, managing and enhancing customer data, providing customer service, assessing your interest in our products and services, and conducting customer research or satisfaction surveys. These companies are obligated to protect your data and may be located wherever Apple operates.

Other Provisions:

Apple may be compelled – by law, in the course of legal proceedings, a dispute and/or a request from public authorities in your country of residence or elsewhere – to disclose your personal data. We may also disclose your data if we believe that for national security, law enforcement, or other matters of public interest, disclosure is necessary or appropriate.

We may also disclose information about you if we believe that such disclosure is reasonably necessary to enforce our terms and conditions or to protect our operations or users. Additionally, in the event of a restructuring, merger, or sale, we may transfer any and all personal information we collect to the relevant third party.

Protection of Personal Data

Apple takes the security of your personal data very seriously. Apple’s online services, such as the Apple Online Store and iTunes Store, use Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption to protect your personal data during transit. When your personal data is stored by Apple, we use computer systems with limited access housed in facilities using physical security measures. iCloud data is stored in encrypted form including when we utilize third-party storage.

When you use certain Apple products, services, or applications, or participate in an Apple forum, chat, or social networking service, the personal data and content you share are visible to other users who may read, collect, and use them. You are responsible for the personal data you choose to submit in these instances. For example, if you list your name and email address in a forum post, that information is public. Please be careful when using these features.

If you or anyone using Family Sharing connects to a third-party device, all information shared with your Family (including calendar, geographic location, photos, and iTunes purchases) may be downloaded onto that third-party device, thus disclosing shared information. [For more information, see About Family Sharing.]

Integrity and Retention of Personal Data

Apple allows you to maintain the accuracy, currency, and integrity of your personal data easily. We will retain your personal data for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Commitment unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

Access to Personal Data

To ensure that your contact details and preferences are accurate, complete, and up to date, log in to your account at https://appleid.apple.com/. We will provide you with access to other personal data we hold about you so you may request that we correct the data if it is inaccurate or delete the data if Apple is not required to retain it by law or for legitimate business purposes. We may decline to process requests that are frivolous/vexatious, jeopardize the privacy of others, are extremely impractical, or for which access is not otherwise required by local law. Requests for access, correction, or deletion can be sent to the email addresses Privacy.

Children & Education

We understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children using Apple products and services. Children under the age of 13, or equivalent minimum age in the relevant jurisdiction, are not permitted to create their own Apple IDs, except as part of the Family Sharing account creation process, with verifiable parental consent, or, if applicable, via their school with a Managed Apple ID. For example, a parent must review the Apple ID and Family Sharing Information and agree to the Consent regarding Apple’s collection, use, and disclosure of their child’s data; and the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions before initiating the Apple ID creation process for their child. Additionally, schools participating in Apple School Manager and having reviewed and agreed to the Disclosure of Personal Data for Managed Apple IDs for Students may create Managed Apple IDs for students. The Disclosure of Personal Data for Managed Apple IDs for Students describes how Apple handles student information and complements Apple’s Privacy Commitment.

Learn more about Family Sharing, Managed Apple IDs, and Restrictions for children’s accounts.

If we learn that we have collected the personal data of a child under 13, or equivalent minimum age depending on jurisdiction, under circumstances other than those described above, we will take steps to delete the information as soon as possible.

If at any time a parent wishes to access, correct, or delete data associated with their Family Sharing account or their child’s Apple ID, they can contact us via our Privacy email addresses.

Or by using the contact details here.

Location Services

To provide location services on Apple products, Apple and its partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. Where available, location services may use GPS, Bluetooth, your IP address, as well as the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers, or other technologies to determine the approximate location of your devices. Unless you provide consent, this location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and its partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services.

Some location services offered by Apple, such as the “Find My iPhone” feature, require your personal data to function.

Third-Party Sites and Services

Apple websites, products, applications, and services may contain links to third-party websites, products, and services. Our products and services may also use or offer products or services from third parties (for example, a third-party iPhone app).

Information collected by third parties, which may include such things as location data or contact details, is governed by their privacy practices. We encourage you to learn about the privacy practices of those third parties.

How We Use Your Personal Data

• The personal data we collect allows us to keep you updated on Apple’s latest product announcements, software updates, and upcoming events. If you don’t want to be on our mailing list, you can opt out at any time by updating your preferences.
• We also use personal data to help us create, develop, operate, deliver, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising, and for loss prevention and anti-fraud purposes.
• We may use your personal data, including your date of birth, to verify identity, assist with identification of users, and determine appropriate services. For instance, we may use your date of birth to determine the age of the Apple ID holder.
• We may periodically use your personal data to send important notices, such as communications about purchases and changes to our terms, policies, and conditions. Since this information is important to your interaction with Apple, you cannot opt out of receiving these communications.
• We may also use personal data for internal purposes, such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve Apple’s products, services, and customer communications.
• If you enter a sweepstake, contest, or similar promotional event, we may use the information you provide to administer those programs.

Collection and Use of Non-Personal Data

We also collect data in a form that does not, on its own, permit direct association with any specific individual. We may collect, use, transfer, and disclose non-personal data for any purpose. Below are examples of non-personal data we collect and how we may use it:

Here is the translation in English:

If you subscribe to a subscription in a third-party app or in Apple News, we create a subscriber ID that is unique to you and to the developer or publisher that we use to provide reports to the developer or publisher. These reports include information about the subscription you have subscribed to, as well as your country of residence. If you cancel all your subscriptions with a particular developer or publisher, the subscriber ID will be reset after 180 days if you do not resubscribe.

These details are provided to developers to enable them to understand the performance of their subscriptions.

International Users

All information that you disclose may be transferred or will be accessible by companies around the world, as described in this Privacy Commitment. Apple uses standard contractual clauses approved for the international transfer of personal information collected in the European Economic Area and Switzerland. As an international company, Apple has many legal entities located within different jurisdictions that are responsible for the personal information they collect and that are processed on their behalf by Apple Inc. For example, point-of-sale information within our business entities located outside the United States is controlled by individual business entities in each country. Personal information associated with Apple, the online store, and iTunes may also be controlled by legal entities outside the United States, as specified in the terms and conditions of each service.

Apple complies with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system. The APEC CBPR system provides an infrastructure for organizations to ensure the protection of personal information transferred to the economies of participating APEC countries. To learn more about APEC certification and dispute resolution, please click on the TRUSTe privacy seal.

Our Commitment to Protecting Your Privacy

Committed to preserving the security of your personal information, we communicate these privacy and security rules to each of our employees and enforce a very strict policy on the matter within our company.

Privacy Questions

If you have any questions or concerns about the processing of your data or Apple’s Privacy Commitment, or if you wish to report a possible violation of local privacy laws, please contact us. You can always contact us by phone at the Apple support number for your country.

We review all communications and respond to you as soon as possible when deemed appropriate. If you are not satisfied with the response you received, you can forward your complaint to the appropriate authority in your jurisdiction. If you ask us, we will strive to provide you with information about possible remedies applicable to your situation.

Apple may periodically update its Privacy Commitment. In the event of a significant change, a notification will be posted on our website, along with the updated privacy commitment.

Apple Inc. 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, California, USA, 95014 Last updated: September 12, 2016.