Snapchat
Good overall compliance, with 5 red flags.
The policy scores 88 out of 100 and is graded D. It describes collecting 13 categories of personal data. 2 topics a privacy policy is expected to cover are not addressed.
Source policy: www.snapchat.com
88Good
- Privacy grade
- Grade D
- Overall score
- 88/100
- Data categories
- 13 collected
- Third parties
- 0 shared
- Red flags
- 5 found
Critical attention required
Red flags identified
Our analysis flagged 5 points of concern in Snapchat's privacy policy.
Unilateral Policy Changes
Analyze outcome:
5/27
The company can change the privacy policy at any time without notifying users.
No Liability for Unauthorized Access
Analyze outcome:
5/27
The service disclaims liability for unauthorized access to personal data, indicating weak security responsibility.
Reading Private Messages
Analyze outcome:
5/27
The service has the ability to access and read your private communications.
Deleted Content Not Truly Deleted
Analyze outcome:
5/27
Content you delete is retained by the service and not permanently erased.
Biometric Data Collection
Analyze outcome:
5/27
The service collects biometric data (such as fingerprints or facial recognition) without clear justification or consent.
What data is collected?
13 of 16Categories of personal data the policy says are collected.
Computer Information
IP address, browser type and version, operating system, and device identifiers.
Social Media Information
Data obtained from users' social media profiles or activity, if integrated with the service.
Personal Identifier
Data that can be used to identify an individual, such as name, email address, phone number, and government-issued IDs.
Purchase and Order History
Specific financial information detailing items bought or services contracted.
User Profile
Information users provide to create a profile, which might include a username, bio, preferences, etc.
Financial
Encompasses payment information, transaction history, credit card details, and financial account details.
Communications
Content of user communications through messaging services or support channels.
Biometric Data
Fingerprints, facial recognition data, or other biometric identifiers.
Contact Information
Phone numbers, email addresses, and other contact points.
User Online Activities
Information about how users interact with a website or application, such as browsing history, search queries, and usage patterns.
Location
GPS data, IP address-based location, and other geolocation data.
Cookies and Tracking Elements
Information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies used to track user behavior and preferences online.
Demographic
Data such as age, gender, ethnicity, and possibly education level or employment status.
Purpose of data collection
8 of 10Understand why your data is requested.
Personalization
To enhance user experience, data might be collected to personalize content, recommendations, and features based on individual preferences and behaviors.
Communication
Organizations often collect contact information to communicate with users, such as sending transactional emails, updates, newsletters, or responding to inquiries.
Marketing and Advertising
With user consent, data may be used for marketing purposes, such as targeting advertisements or promotions to users who might find them relevant.
Security and Fraud Prevention
Information might be collected to protect against and detect fraud, unauthorized activities, and other security threats.
Service Provision
Data is often collected to provide and improve the services or products that users have requested. This could involve using personal data for account creation, service delivery, or customer support.
Legal Compliance
Organizations may need to collect data to comply with legal obligations, such as maintaining records for regulatory purposes or responding to legal requests.
Research and Development
Data might be used for research and development to innovate and develop new features, technologies, or services.
Analytics and Improvement
Data is used to analyze how users interact with a service or product. This helps in improving user experience, addressing issues, and making informed business decisions.
Data retention periods
7How long the policy says data is kept.
User-Controlled Retention
Information that users have control over in terms of when or if it is deleted, such as data stored in user accounts that can be deleted by user action.
Long-term Retention
Data retained for several years due to legal, contractual, or business reasons. This might include transaction records, certain legal compliance data, and employee records.
Immediate Deletion
Data that is deleted immediately or as soon as it is no longer needed for processing, such as session data that does not persist beyond a logout.
Archived Data
Data that is archived for historical or research purposes but is no longer actively used. This might be subject to different security measures and access controls.
Permanent Retention
Information that is retained indefinitely, often until the user requests deletion or the service is terminated. This might apply to essential account information for active users.
Regulatory Compliance
Data retained specifically to meet regulatory requirements, where laws dictate specific timeframes, such as tax records or data related to legal disputes.
Short-term Retention
Data retained for a short period, often days to a few months, such as some types of temporary logs or non-essential cookies.
Mobile app permission concerns
Based on the permissions the application requests, beyond what the policy states it collects.
No undisclosed data
The privacy policy discloses every type of data this app's permissions could give it access to.
Your rights
6 of 7 grantedWhat the policy says about your data protection rights.
- Right to access your dataYes
- Right to erasureYes
- Right to correct your dataYes
- Right to data portabilityYes
- Right to object to processingYes
- Right to restrict processingNot stated
- Right to withdraw consentYes
What the policy does not address
2Topics a privacy policy is expected to cover that this one leaves out.
- Right to restrict processing
- Contact information
Security measures applied to protect the data
4 of 11Technical and organisational safeguards the policy describes for protecting your data.
Secure User Authentication
Accounts are protected by measures such as strong passwords, two-factor authentication or secure session handling.
Generic Security Assurances
The policy states that data is protected but does not describe the specific measures used.
Incident Response
A defined process for detecting, containing and reporting security breaches, including notifying affected users where required.
Privacy and Security Program
A formal program of policies, roles and controls the organization maintains to protect personal data.
When will users be notified about privacy policy changes
1 of 8Circumstances that trigger user notification regarding updates to data handling practices.
Privacy-Relevant Changes
Changes that affect what personal data is collected, how it is used, or who it is shared with.
How will users be notified about privacy policy changes
3 of 8The channels and methods used to communicate privacy policy updates to users.
In-App Notification
A message is shown inside the app or service, for example the next time users sign in.
Update in Privacy Policy Document
The revised policy is published, usually with a new "last updated" date, and users are expected to check it themselves.
Website Announcement
A notice is posted on the service's website, such as a banner or a news page.
Legal basis for data processing
3 of 6The lawful grounds under which your personal data is collected and processed.
Legal Obligation
Processing is needed to comply with a law the organization is subject to.
Consent
The user has agreed to the processing of their personal data for one or more specific purposes.
Contractual Necessity
Processing is needed to perform a contract with the user, or to take steps the user asked for before entering into one.
Children's data
What the policy says about collecting data from children.
Addresses data from children
Whether the policy specifically covers how data from children and minors is handled.
Yes
Collects data from children
Whether the policy says the service collects personal data from children.
No
Minimum age
The age below which the policy says personal data is not collected.
13 years
Age for consent
The age the policy gives for obtaining consent to process a child's data.
0 years
Contact information
Reach out to the data controller for questions, requests, or concerns about your personal data.
Company name
- Snap Inc.
About this application
- Platform
- Android
- Application id
- com.snapchat.android
- Category
- Communication
- Store listing
- Store page