Do I need an EULA for this Android app?

The best approach would be to have the location tracking feature switched off by default and allow it to be switched on in the settings and perhaps present user dialogs asking for it to be switched on.

If your application requires it in all use cases, make sure that there is a notification at start-up that warns the user all future uses of the application will collect location data.

In general, a EULA is supposed to be designed to protect you, not gain permission from users.

The users have already agreed to the terms of the Market which include your application being able to see their location if they install your application.

Remember, they already give you permission in two ways:

Your application indicates the permission in the manifest and therefore at install-time, so they know it when they install your application
They have the option to switch off location detection in the settings via networks and GPS at any time

To conclude: You should include a notice, but not an entire agreement as it is unnecessary. A notice is courteous enough. You do not require their permission as long as the phone is being used in a country Google may legally perform business in.

The thing is that I generally dislike EULAs, but I'm afraid my hands are tied on this one ...Another option that I would favor is to have a preference which the user can enable or disable, so he can be in control whether his data can be saved or not. I'm afraid that would be insufficient as well, right? Or would that depend on the default value of that preference (similar to opt-in vs opt-out)?

Franklin 2010-05-20 09:19:50

Also, how would a telephone or WiFi operator be able to use the latitude and longitude for their own purposes? Telephone operators already know the locations of their users, and WiFi operators surely know the location of their networks as well ...I'm not simply disagreeing with you on this one, but I'm sincerely wondering in what way that information could be abused. :)

Franklin 2010-05-20 09:24:28

Well, I think the best way would be to do the same thing which the developers of popularity-contest for GNU/Linux did. Have an option, mention it to user and have its default state be off. This way, users need to opt-in so they can't complain about being uninformed. I think that its the best way to go if you hate legalese as much as I do :)

AndrejaKo 2010-05-20 09:24:50

About telephone operators and friends: Look at it this way: What if someone tries to indirectly use operator to monitor users? We all know that it's a simple thing for telephone operators to track their users and a bit more complicated thing for WiFi operators to track their users, but what if someone associated with the operator is doing the tracking without op's blessings? I'm thinking about corrupt employees, intelligence agencies, organized crime and similar (but mostly corrupt employees). In a perfect world, you wouldn't have to worry about something like that, but reality is a bad place.

AndrejaKo 2010-05-20 09:30:34

Of course the most important thing about privacy concerns is how often does the application send data? If it's once every few days, then it's not very useful for tracking, but if it's once every minute...Also another vote for the opt-in: To send data, you have to use Internet. In some countries (like mine for example) Internet over mobile phones is very expensive and users definitely wouldn't want to have some application spending their hard earned money without notifying them in advance.

AndrejaKo 2010-05-20 09:33:40

The application can be configured how often to retrieve updates, from once every 5 minutes to once every hour (defaults to once every 30 minutes). Since use of the application completely relies on data connectivity and that users have to agree on beforehand that applications can use their internet connection at will, I'm not concerned with users begin surprised that the app actually does something with that granted permission. :)

Franklin 2010-05-20 09:41:48

Totally forgot about that one when I was typing the comment.

AndrejaKo 2010-05-20 13:11:24

ansaurus

tags:

views:

answers:

Do I need an EULA for this Android app?

related questions