Is the App Store privacy label the same as the privacy policy?

No. The label is a short, structured summary in a format Apple or Google defines, meant to be read in seconds. The privacy policy is the developer's own document and usually longer. The label is faster to check; the policy has the detail if you want it.

Can a developer lie on the privacy label?

They can state something inaccurate, since the label isn't independently audited against the app's code at submission. It's still a formal declaration to the platform, which is a real constraint on getting it wrong deliberately — but it's why the label is described as a strong signal rather than a guarantee.

Why does the same app show a different label on iPhone and Android?

Apple's App Privacy and Google's Data safety are separate questionnaires with different categories and thresholds, answered independently for each platform. A developer can end up with a genuinely different-looking label on each store for the same underlying app without either being inaccurate.

What does 'Device or other IDs' usually mean for an app with no ads?

Without an advertising SDK attached to it, a device identifier is more often used for something like recognising the same install for app functionality or purchase restoration, rather than for ad targeting. The declared purpose next to the data type is the detail worth reading, not just which data types are listed.

Does 'Data Not Collected' mean the app works entirely offline?

Not necessarily — it means the developer collects nothing, which is a data question, not a connectivity one. An app could still make network calls for something like checking for an update. [The airplane-mode test](/privacy/clean-photos-without-uploading-them) is the separate check for whether a feature runs locally.

How to read the privacy label on a photo cleaner's store listing

Every App Store listing has an App Privacy section where the developer declares what the app collects, grouped as Data Not Collected, Data Not Linked to You, or Data Linked to You. Google Play's equivalent is Data safety. Labels are developer-declared rather than audited, so treat them as a strong signal rather than proof.

By Emre, who builds Slean. Updated 1 September 2026.

Scroll past the screenshots and the description on any App Store listing and there's a section called App Privacy. Almost nobody reads it before installing, and it's the single most useful part of the page for the question this cluster keeps coming back to: what does this app actually do with your data.

Where it is

1Open the app's page on the App Store — on your phone or at apps.apple.com.
2Scroll past the screenshots, description and ratings to the section titled App Privacy.
3Tap "See Details" if the app declares more than one category, to see each data type and how it's linked to you.
4On Android, the same information lives in the Data safety section on the app's Google Play listing, usually reached by tapping "See details" under About this app.

What the three categories mean

Term	What it means
Data Not Collected	The developer states the app collects nothing at all. It's the strongest position on the label, and it's a specific claim, not marketing language — the developer is attesting to it.
Data Not Linked to You	Data is collected, but not connected to your identity — not tied to your name, an account, or a device identifier that could point back to you.
Data Linked to You	Data is collected and connected to your identity, usually through an account, a device or advertising identifier, or similar.

Which categories matter for a photo cleaner

Identifiers. This covers device and advertising IDs. Seeing one declared, especially linked to you, is the clearest signal that an ad network or a tracking SDK is present — more reliable than checking for a visible ad, since some apps carry the SDK without showing ads yet.
Usage Data. What you tap, how long you use the app, which screens you open. This is behavioural analytics, and it's a meaningfully different position from an app that declares nothing here.
Diagnostics. Crash logs and performance data. This is common and generally lower-risk — it's how a solo developer finds out an app is crashing on a device they don't own — but it's still worth checking whether it's declared as linked to you or not.
Purchases. If the app has anything to buy, purchase history is often declared. This one is mundane: it's how billing and restoring a purchase works, on either store.

Why the label is a signal, not proof

The developer fills the label in themselves. Apple and Google don't inspect the app's network traffic against every category checked, and a label can lag behind reality if a developer adds an SDK later and forgets to update it. That's a real limitation, not a reason to skip the check — it's still the fastest, most specific thing you can look at before installing, and a developer who gets it visibly wrong is taking on real risk if it's ever noticed. It's one of several checks worth running before installing anything — the rest are here.

The label tells you what's declared. It doesn't tell you whether a scan is actually running offline right now. For that, pair it with the airplane-mode test — the two checks cover different gaps.

What Slean declares

Slean carries no advertising SDK on either platform and shares nothing with third parties. Rather than take that from a page I wrote, open Slean's own listing on whichever store you use and read the section for yourself — that is the whole point of this page.

One thing to expect when you do: the two labels for a single app often do not look identical. Apple and Google ask developers to answer different questionnaires, aimed at slightly different things, so the same app can land on a different-looking label on each store without either one being wrong. Read the platform you are actually installing on.

Questions people actually ask

Is the App Store privacy label the same as the privacy policy?: No. The label is a short, structured summary in a format Apple or Google defines, meant to be read in seconds. The privacy policy is the developer's own document and usually longer. The label is faster to check; the policy has the detail if you want it.
Can a developer lie on the privacy label?: They can state something inaccurate, since the label isn't independently audited against the app's code at submission. It's still a formal declaration to the platform, which is a real constraint on getting it wrong deliberately — but it's why the label is described as a strong signal rather than a guarantee.
Why does the same app show a different label on iPhone and Android?: Apple's App Privacy and Google's Data safety are separate questionnaires with different categories and thresholds, answered independently for each platform. A developer can end up with a genuinely different-looking label on each store for the same underlying app without either being inaccurate.
What does 'Device or other IDs' usually mean for an app with no ads?: Without an advertising SDK attached to it, a device identifier is more often used for something like recognising the same install for app functionality or purchase restoration, rather than for ad targeting. The declared purpose next to the data type is the detail worth reading, not just which data types are listed.
Does 'Data Not Collected' mean the app works entirely offline?: Not necessarily — it means the developer collects nothing, which is a data question, not a connectivity one. An app could still make network calls for something like checking for an update. [The airplane-mode test](/privacy/clean-photos-without-uploading-them) is the separate check for whether a feature runs locally.