Countless mobile apps collect our data. From our name, to our phone number or email address, our personal data is often collected and stored. Depending on what happens with this data, developers can become legally accountable for deceptive practices after one small misstep. It is a scary concept, and now more than ever development teams need to become privacy-savvy.

As a mobile app developer, a good way to protect yourself is by creating a privacy policy. Increasingly mobile apps now offer privacy policies, and through them developers provide information to users on what data is being collected through their mobile app and how it is used.

Katy Bachman of AdWeek references a recent study that shows a sudden increase in mobile app privacy policies:

“The percentage of free apps on the iOS App Store doubled from 40 percent to 84 percent between last September and June, said the Future of Privacy Forum report. Similarly, the think tank found on the Google platform that the percentage of free apps with a privacy policy increased 70 percent to 76 percent. Paid apps were a slightly different story with the percentage of apps on the iOS App Store platform increasing to 64 percent from 60 percent and up 30 percent to 48 percent on the Google platform.”

It is a great sign that developers are so quickly stepping it up when it comes to privacy. It took websites years to adopt policies, and with a little push from lawmakers mobile apps are ready to comply. But a privacy policy isn’t enough; in fact, it only merely masks the problem.  Privacy only becomes an issue when a mobile app is not secure. Even with a privacy policy, a developer will remain at risk if their app isn’t thoroughly tested for security vulnerabilities.

The data and resources contained in and controlled by an application need to be protected. The number of mobile threats is increasing, and a security breach can occur for a number of reasons whether it is poor design, code or process. With security testing, a team can identify and fix any security holes within the application’s code and any other possible common attacks or vulnerabilities.

The more data an application collects, the more at risk the app is for a security breach. This is not to say an application should not collect any data – but it does mean the developer must go through the necessary steps to ensure their users’ personal data is kept private.

Let’s hear from some developers – how do you ensure privacy and security when it comes to mobile apps? Let us know in the comments section.