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I have this simple Android app, made with Phonegap Build. Now I needed to fill in the Data safety form. I did so in good faith, as I thought my app does not collect or send any private info. But Google rejected my form, because of the following reason: Data sent off device undeclared in Data safety form: App Activity Data Type - Installed Apps.

Is there a way Phonegap sends this information? Is there a way to find out what other info is sent by my app? Or could Google be rejecting this in error? (I'm very careful, as I have a bad experience with the reviewers of Google play.) Of course I want to answer the questions on the form fair and true, but this I did not know.

Hans Dash
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  • I have the same issue. It seems that some library sends off Installed Apps data. How did you solve the issue? Thank you! – rootpanthera Sep 01 '22 at 09:43

3 Answers3

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You can check the AndroidManifest.xml file for your dependencies which request

<permission android:name="android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES" />

Whichever library is causing the issue,try updating it or removing it

Omkar T
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    Thanks. I used this tool to have a look in my apk. https://www.sisik.eu/apk-tool (thanks to this answer: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4191762/how-to-view-androidmanifest-xml-from-apk-file) It did not have the depedency you described. I think the Google Play reviewer meant to tell me that the webview makes it possible to collect data about the performance of the app. I hope I filled in the form ok this time. – Hans Dash Nov 25 '21 at 19:26
  • AFAIK webview can't access installed apps data, but i hope your problem will be gone – Omkar T Nov 26 '21 at 01:42
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This is the way I solved this: I simply answered [yes] to this question on the Data Safety Form: "Review the list of required user data types that you need to disclose. Does your app collect or share any of the required user data types?"

In hindsight I needed to answer [yes] because the app contains a webview on each page of the app, to show a small ad. This way the app sends 'Information about how a user interacts with the app. For example, the number of times that they visit a page or sections they tap on.'

Maybe I/ we misunderstood the message from Google Play. Hope this will help other users who experience the same problem.

Hans Dash
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Most likely the cause is from one or more of the libraries you used. This answer helps you to find which library collects such data https://stackoverflow.com/a/73677540/7322834

Aman
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