About privacy, does google play store allow my android app to look at and send the browser history of the user to save in my database

Question

My app is kind of search engine for the user to search their personal browser history. And in installation, for permission, i also ask the user for: read your web history.

this is the behavior: - The user minimizes my app. - Open browser, visit some pages. - Re-launch my app. - At this time, my app will look at the browser history, and send the list of URLs the user has viewed to the database. And from now on, from the app, the user can search their web browsing history.

I already read the policy at: https://play.google.com/intl/en/about/developer-content-policy.html

But I'm still not sure that Google store allow my app to do that. Please give me advice. Many thanks!!!

I hope they don't, that sounds like a serious invasion of people's privacy. — Alexander O'Mara, Jul 10 '15 at 05:10

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 10 '15 at 05:11

0

Here is the relevant policy (my emphasis added):

Apps that collect information (such as the user's location or behavior) without the user's knowledge (spyware) are prohibited.

My unofficial answer to you is: will your users be surprised by this behavior? If you are marketing your app as a utility for synchronizing the user's browser history and that is its primary function, that is very different than sneaking this functionality into a game where the user has no idea or expectation of it, and where this behavior has no clear or obvious end-user benefit.

answered Jul 10 '15 at 05:11

Michael Aaron Safyan

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yes, my app is kind of personal searching engine for the user to search his/her browsing history. – Do Han Jul 10 '15 at 06:20
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in installation, for permission, i also ask the user: read your web history – Do Han Jul 10 '15 at 06:31

About privacy, does google play store allow my android app to look at and send the browser history of the user to save in my database

1 Answers1