Privacy Matters: How One Firm Leveraged 42matters to Launch a Unique Data Privacy Service

A consulting firm based in the United States relies on 42matters’s mobile app intelligence to deliver bespoke data privacy services.

By integrating our solutions into their workflow, the firm is able to conduct privacy-related research on millions of iOS and Android apps. This includes the ability to review privacy policies, privacy control information, and integrated software development kits (SDKs).

42matters enables the boutique firm to triage their clients’ mobile presence, identify potential vulnerabilities, and assure they remain compliant with data privacy regulations like the United States’ Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and more.

Our Customer at a Glance

The company is a consulting firm based in the United States. They have over 100 employees and specialize in data privacy and insights. However, it’s their data privacy offering that we’ll focus on here.

Helping Publishers Keep Their Data Privacy Promises

Data privacy is a hot topic these days — and no wonder. While technologies like smartphones, social media, and high speed internet keep people connected, they also encourage people to live increasingly online lifestyles. And, because every link individuals click, every app they download, and every website they visit adds to a growing pile of personal data, there’s now more information about individuals than ever before. The question then is: what is this data used for?

The vast majority of use cases are relatively harmless. Contextual advertising for instance, though often uncannily accurate, enables ad networks to serve consumers highly relevant ads. Nevertheless, lingering questions about where user data is being stored, who can access the data once it’s collected, and what it’s ultimately being used for have led to calls for greater transparency and accountability.

This is where our customer comes in. They help mobile app publishers adhere to global policies and regulations governing data privacy and assure that third-party technology providers don’t compromise their ability to do so.

More specifically, their team of data privacy experts work with publishers to investigate their prevailing business practices, review the state of their mobile presences, and assess third-party privacy policies for potential issues.

An Onerous Regulatory Environment and a Fast-Growing Market Complicated Matters

A spate of new data protection policies have made it difficult to navigate the mobile privacy regulatory environment. Measures like the European Union’s GDPR, though welcome, have placed a heavy burden on businesses tasked with abiding by their statutes.

Adding to this burden is the growing maturity of the mobile app market. Not only are there more apps available than ever before, but they’re powered by a growing number of third-party development tools that operate in the background of user devices. This includes SDKs and application programming interfaces (APIs) capable of accessing sensitive user information like location insights, credit card information, contact information, and more.

Confronted with these challenges, our customer needed a more efficient, scalable way to assess mobile app data privacy practices.

More Specifically, They Needed a Solution That Enabled Them to…

Speed up the Privacy Policy Review Process

Analyze Compliance at the SDK Level

Maintain an Efficient, Comprehensive Workflow

Reviewing mobile app privacy policies is tedious work. They needed a tool that could give them instant access to the latest policies in a single location.

They also needed a tool that enabled them to assess apps for potential regulatory compliance issues at the SDK level.

Finally, they needed a solution with comprehensive insight into the mobile market that could be inserted comfortably into their workflow.


For This, They Turned to 42matters

In particular, the 42matters Explorer, our flagship mobile app intelligence platform!

With this, the firm now has insight into 17+ million published and unpublished apps, along with 2,300+ iOS and Android SDKs, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Among these insights are…

  • Privacy details, including links to app privacy policies and permissions;
  • Technical insights, like integrated SDKs and required capabilities;
  • Developer update changelogs, for tracking policy revisions and integrated technologies;
  • Audience insights, including content ratings for determining whether apps are targeted at children;
  • Localization information, like country availability and language options, for determining which privacy policies apply to each app;
  • And more!

(Comprehensive Data + Helpful Support) Appealing Pricing = Unmatched Value

Before incorporating the Explorer into their workflow, the firm’s data privacy service was largely a manual effort. They built complex, personalized spreadsheets for their clients, defined risk assessment rules to regularize their analyses, and scrutinized each app individually.

They tinkered with a number of app intelligence solutions to streamline their processes, but found most to be lacking. In particular, they were frustrated by the paucity of tools for monitoring integrated SDKs, the lack of quality support, and prohibitive pricing.

This is where our solutions come into the picture. They now use the Explorer to conduct the vast majority of their data privacy analyses. Its unmatched SDK intelligence has been particularly valuable, providing them with the depth-of-insight necessary to conduct holistic data security appraisals.

Finally, our team was on-hand throughout the entire integration process, helping them implement a highly-effective solution, in a timely manner, without breaking the bank!

The 42matters Explorer Enables Them to…

Conduct Highly-Detailed App Security Analyses  

Assess Integrated Technologies

Offer a Convenient, Scalable Service

The 42matters Explorer offers sophisticated app filtering capabilities and links to mobile app privacy policies. The firm uses these to identify apps that have potentially intrusive features or permissions, as well as those that require policy revisions surrounding data privacy.

The Explorer provides SDK classification and inventory insights. This helps them identify SDK type (ad network, analytics, etc.), personal information being shared with each SDK, third-party privacy policies that need to be reviewed, and SDKs that should be blocked.

By integrating the 42matters Explorer into their review processes, they’re able to help mobile app developers improve data privacy. And because the Explorer is user-friendly and updated in near real-time, they’re able to make recommendations in a timely manner.


Want to Learn More About the 42matters Explorer’s Data Privacy Insights? Let’s Chat!

We offer a wide variety of mobile and connected TV (CTV) app intelligence solutions that can be used by businesses of all types and across all industries to make informed security decisions.

This includes visual platforms like the 42matters Explorer, SDK Explorer, and App Watchlist; and dozens of data-rich APIs and File Dumps.

To learn more about how our app intelligence can be used to improve security, read our cyber security solutions page!

Get Started With 42matters Today!

At 42matters, we provide app insights, data, and analytics via a host of useful APIs, File Dumps, and web-based app intelligence platforms, like the 42matters Explorer, and the 42matters SDK Explorer.

These tools, which you can try free for 14-days, offer a comprehensive look at app market trends and statistics. This includes in-depth, visual insights into downloads, categories, top charts, rating and review analyses, and more. This data can be downloaded as a CSV file and leveraged however you like — in your own algorithms, analyses, products, studies, etc.

If you would like to learn more about our recent updates, or any other mobile app analytics from 42matters, schedule a free demo with one of our experts!

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