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When I use a Google account which then becomes the primary account on the device, what information is captured by Google e.g. device make, model, IMEI, etc?

Am I able to access any of this information and if so where?

PeanutsMonkey
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1 Answers1

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Google Play is covered by the terms of Google's privacy policy, and in fact links you to it when you first launch the app or visit the link in the Play website's footer. The very brief summary is that they divide it into:

  • "Information you give us" - Any info provided during registration
  • Device information - Noted to be "...your hardware model, operating system version, unique device identifiers, and mobile network information including phone number"
  • Log information
  • Location information
  • Unique application numbers
  • Local storage
  • Cookies and anonymous identifiers

Since Google's apps are proprietary I doubt you'll get much more definite information than that unless you ask Google directly. You can read the full text of Google's Privacy Policy to see how they use the information they collect (among other things).

eldarerathis
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  • Thanks. So what happens if you perform a factory reset of the phone and use a different account i.e. what happens to the historical data? Can they be linked, etc? So for example I sell my phone after performing a factory reset, the person who purchased the phone uses a different Google Account. Is there a way for them to know the previous details in any form or shape? – PeanutsMonkey Apr 23 '12 at 02:10
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    @PeanutsMonkey: If you're asking if Google can create a link then I'd suspect yes (using a hardware identifier like IMEI) but I'd imagine they wouldn't link two separate accounts like that in practice specifically because people often sell used phones and the like. If you mean can the new owner get at your historical information then no, unless they somehow obtained access to Google's servers and data. AFAIK there's no way for an end-user to establish such a connection. – eldarerathis Apr 23 '12 at 03:20