The Apple Store app provides a more personal way to shop for the latest Apple products and accessories. Apple’s terms state that protecting children is an important priority for everyone at Apple. Apple believes in transparency and giving parents the information they need to determine what is best for their child. In addition, Apple's terms state that security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all Apple hardware, software, and services. Apple's terms state they understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children using Apple products and services.

The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use used for this evaluation can be found on Apple Store's website and the iOS App Store. This evaluation only considers policies that have been made publicly available prior to an individual using the application or service.

Additionally, other relevant policies used for this evaluation include:

• Privacy Principles
• Privacy Features
• Privacy Control
• Privacy Governance
• Family Privacy Disclosure for Children
• Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions
• iCloud Terms and Conditions
• iCloud Security Overview
• Apple’s Use of Cookies
• Your California Privacy Disclosures

Safety

Apple’s terms state that protecting children is an important priority for everyone at Apple. Apple believes in transparency and giving parents the information they need to determine what is best for their child. The terms state Apple works hard to offer controls for parents that are intuitive and customizable. By creating an Apple ID for their child, a parent enables them to enjoy the same Family Sharing features as the parent and other family members. A child's Apple ID allows them to share music, movies, TV shows, books, applications, photos, calendars, location data and complete tasks with parents and their family. A child is also able to have their own personalized Apple ID experience using all of the services and content available to an Apple ID account holder.

However, parents should be aware that their child may share information with others depending on the Apple features and services that he or she uses, that may include their child’s name and contact information. Apple's terms state they offer interactive services which allow users to post content to share publicly and that personal information and content users share may be visible to other users and can be read, collected, or used by them. Lastly, the terms state there may be times when parents want to limit their child's access to certain types of content or resources available to the rest of the Family. To help parents manage their child's access to Apple ID services and features, Apple offers a few different sets of controls for parents that include Restrictions, Screen Time, and Family Sharing.

Privacy

Apple's terms state they believe privacy is a fundamental human right, and build privacy-by-default into all their products from the ground up, including their apps and services. When a parent creates an Apple ID, the terms state Apple may collect a variety of information, including their name, mailing address, phone number, email address, contact preferences, device identifiers, IP address, location information and credit card information. In addition, when a parent creates an Apple ID for their child, Apple may collect device identifiers, cookies, IP addresses and the geographic locations and time zones in which his or her Apple device is used.

The terms state personal information will only be shared by Apple to provide or improve their products, services and advertising by third party apps. Personal information will not be shared with third parties for their own third-party marketing purposes. However, Apple may use, transfer and disclose non-personal de-identifed information for any purpose. This means that Apple’s websites, online services, interactive applications, email messages, and third-party app advertisements may use tracking technologies to help Apple better understand user behavior, tell the company which parts of their websites people have visited, and facilitate and measure the effectiveness of advertisements and searches. In third-party apps, users may see ads based on other information, but a child's Apple ID may still be able to receive non-targeted advertising on those devices.

Apple's "Limit Ad Tracking" control is enabled by default for all devices associated with a child's Apple ID, to ensure they do not receive targeted advertising from third-party apps. In addition, third-party apps in the Kids Category of the App Store are prohibited from serving behavioral advertisements to children. Lastly, Apple's terms state they do not track their customers over time and across third party websites to provide targeted advertising, and do not make any decisions involving the use of algorithms or profiling that would significantly affect users.

Security

Apple's terms state that security and privacy are fundamental to the design of all Apple hardware, software, and services. Apple takes an integrated approach to ensure that every aspect of the user's experience has security and privacy built in. The terms state that when personal data is stored by Apple, they use computer systems with limited access housed in facilities using physical security measures. Apple's terms state they communicate privacy and security guidelines to all Apple employees and strictly enforce privacy safeguards within the company.

Additionally, the terms state iCloud is built with industry-standard security practices and employs strict policies to protect data. iCloud secures user data by encrypting it when it’s sent over the Internet, storing it in an encrypted format when kept on the server, and using secure tokens for authentication. The terms specify this means that user data is protected from unauthorized access both while it is being transmitted to devices and when it is stored in iCloud. Apple retains the encryption keys in our own data centers and iCloud also stores Apple ID passwords and credentials in such a way that Apple cannot read or access them.

Lastly, Apple's terms state that services use end-to-end encryption and users can enable two-factor authentication to further secure their Apple ID. Keeping software up-to-date and using two-factor authentication are the most important methods that users can do to maintain the security of their devices and data.

Compliance

Apple's terms state they understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children using Apple products and services. Children under the age of 13 are not permitted to create their own Apple IDs, unless their parent provides verifiable consent, or their Apple ID is part of the child account creation process in Family Sharing, or they have obtained a Managed Apple ID account through their school. The terms also state that in order to provide consent, a parent must review Apple's Privacy Policy, Apple ID and Family Sharing Disclosure, Use and Disclosure of Your Child’s Information, and the iTunes Store Terms and Conditions, before they can begin the Apple ID account creation process for their child.

The terms state that in order to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which covers the online collection of data from children, Apple may take additional steps to verify that the user granting permission for the creation of a child's Apple ID is his or her parent or legal guardian. Accordingly, parents will be asked to verify their current iTunes, iCloud or Apple Store payment method. Depending on the payment method, this may be done by methods such as the security code from a credit card or a round-trip SMS verification. The terms state Apple requests this information so that they may verify a parent's identity as the Family Organizer and obtain their consent to the collection of personal information from their child. At any time a parent is able to access, correct, or delete data associated with Family Sharing or their child's Apple ID, or they can also contact Apple for support.

Lastly, Apple's terms state it is important for parents to be aware that third-party apps may be collecting data about children. Parental consent does not apply to the data collection practices of any third party applications or services. Third parties, including the developers of apps downloaded by any Family member and accessible by a child through Family Sharing, may collect, use, or disclose a child's information, and these third parties are responsible for obtaining separate verifiable consent. Apple's terms encourage parents to ask their child to check with them before they grant access to any of their personal information to third-party apps.