App developers urged to respect data privacy The app development industry is one of the UK's fastest growing industries, but our survey shows almost half of app users have rejected an app due to privacy concerns. It is important that developers tackle this issue by making sure their apps look after personal information correctly," said ICO Principal Policy Advisor for Technology, Simon Rice. Our guidance will help them achieve this by explaining the legal requirements when using personal information. That includes how to obtain lawful consent, the measures required to keep people's information secure and advice on carrying out routine testing and maintenance. However, data protection is not the sole responsibility of the app developers, according to the ICO. Consumers must also be aware of the need to protect their personal information when downloading mobile apps. In particular, the ICO recommends only downloading apps from official app stores, reading the information available about an app before downloading it, deleting any unused apps, downloading mobile security software, and restoring factory settings befofe donating, reselling or recycling an old device. "The ICO's survey shows yet again that security is the main factor putting the brakes on technology advancement and adoption," said John Thielens, Chief Security Officer at Axway. Transparency is the be all and end all for consumers when it comes to their personal information. They need to know exactly where their data is, who's accessing it and what they're doing with it, or the app industry risks being de-railed.