There are signs that the wait may be over. It seems that Google has finally decided to start updating its main iOS applications. The company has released an update for YouTube this weekend, more than two months after the last update.
As explained by 9to5Google, who saw the update, it’s normal for Google to stop updating apps in December because of the holidays. Updates are not posted during the holidays, as there may not be as many staff as usual to fix issues. However, updates usually resume in early January. However, this did not happen this year and a vast thing most of Google’s iOS apps haven’t been updated since December, the media said.
There was immediate speculation, of course, about a possible reason behind the delay. Popular theory has been linked to Apple’s new privacy labels, which aim to inform users about what data the applications collect and whether that data is related to it or used to track it. Apple released the tags in December, and developers are now required to include them to update their apps and submit new apps.
This theory is not removed for YouTube, which already had tags before the Google update this weekend. 9to5Google states that Music on YouTube, YouTube TV, and YouTube Studio they all had their labels in early February. However, none of these applications received an update in a few months.
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Google came out and said that delays are not due to Apple privacy tags. In January, it began launching several labels in its applications and also published a privacy blog which mentioned the labels.
“As Google Apps for iOS are updated with new features or to fix bugs, you’ll see updates to our app’s page lists that include new app privacy details,” wrote Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, vice president of product privacy. . “These tags represent the maximum categories of data that could be collected – that is, if you use all the features and services available in the application.”
Gizmodo contacted Google to ask why other major iOS apps haven’t received updates yet and when we should expect them. We will update this blog if we hear.
Does that mean Google isn’t worried about Apple’s new privacy labels? Oh no. Google’s main business is advertising, and no doubt they’ve had conversations about tags. However, in this case, it is probably safe to say that the delay in updates is related to something else. Maybe even something completely ordinary.