Privacy policy requirements in the United States
What a privacy policy has to say if you operate from the United States, which law applies, who enforces it, and which other pages you need alongside it.
The facts for the United States
- Law that applies: applicable United States state privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended (CCPA/CPRA).
- Who enforces it: the California Privacy Protection Agency or your state Attorney General.
- Language your users read: English. Terms and a privacy policy in a language your buyer does not speak are worth little, whatever they say.
- Published legal notice: not generally required in the United States; the operator details live in the privacy policy and the terms.
- Pages this produces: Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Account and data deletion page, Cookie Policy, End User License Agreement.
What CCPA/CPRA asks for that a generic template will not have
Where local law is thin, the strictest regime your users live under is the safer one to write to.
Being based here is not on its own what brings the CCPA down on you. It reaches a business doing business in California that passes one of three thresholds: 26.625 million dollars of gross revenue in the preceding year, the personal information of 100,000 California residents or households, or half its revenue from selling or sharing personal information. Most small apps pass none of them. Write to it anyway if you can: it is where the other state laws are heading, the stores ask for the same disclosures, and the GDPR follows your European users home whatever your size.
- What you collect, why, and who else sees it.
- How long you keep it and how someone gets it deleted.
- Where the data is stored and processed.
What every privacy policy has to contain
- Who you are, in a way someone could write to: a name, an address and an address for privacy questions.
- What you collect, item by item, and why you collect each one.
- Who else sees the data: hosting, analytics, payments, crash reporting, and where each of them runs.
- How long you keep it, and what happens when someone deletes their account.
- How to complain to the California Privacy Protection Agency or your state Attorney General if you do not answer.
The pages that go with it in the United States
A privacy policy on its own is rarely the whole requirement. For an app shipping on iOS, Android and the web from the United States, the set is usually: Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Account and data deletion page, Cookie Policy, End User License Agreement.
The United States does not generally require a separate published legal notice, so the operator details live inside the privacy policy and the terms.
The mistakes that cost people a review
- A policy that names a template company rather than yours.
- A deletion route that only exists inside the app, when the store wants one reachable from a web page.
- A list of what you collect that does not match what the app actually asks for.
- A link that 404s three months later because the page was hosted on a free tier that expired.
Keeping it true after launch
A legal page stops being true the moment the product moves past it, usually by adding a payment provider, an analytics SDK or a sign-in. Under CCPA/CPRA the drift is yours rather than your vendor's, and the California Privacy Protection Agency or your state Attorney General is who hears about it.
- Re-read it whenever you add a dependency that sees user data.
- Re-check what loads on the page after any change: the cookie notice and the policy have to agree.
- Keep the URL stable. Changing where a policy lives breaks every listing that points at it.
Common questions
Do I need a privacy policy if my app collects almost nothing?
Yes. Both stores require a working privacy policy URL before your listing goes live, whatever the app does. A short and honest policy is fine; a missing one is not.
Can I use a template from another country?
Only as a starting point. A template written for one regime names the wrong law, the wrong authority and sometimes rights that do not exist where you are. Under CCPA/CPRA the wording and the rights differ from the European and the British versions.
Who enforces this in the United States, and what can they actually do?
The California Privacy Protection Agency or your state Attorney General. They take complaints from your users, can order you to change how you process data, and can fine you. In practice most cases start as a complaint from one person who could not get an answer from you, which is the cheapest thing on this page to avoid.
Does it have to be in English?
The safe answer is yes for the market you sell to. A policy nobody can read is treated as a policy nobody agreed to, and store reviewers in the United States read the listing in their own language.
Where should I host it?
Anywhere that will still be there in a year and does not need a login. Store reviewers open the link, and so do the people who use your app.