#Consent in apps

You choose how consent works in your app, per app and in code. X3 gives you three modes, four separate purposes, a consent sheet for the first launch and a privacy settings screen, and it enforces your choice on the device and on the server. There is no hidden default: consent.mode is a required option of configure, so the decision is always a conscious one.

You decide how consent works in your app, and you are responsible for that decision. X3 implements your choice technically but does not check whether it is legally right for your users and countries. Clarify the legal basis with your privacy counsel and describe X3 in your privacy policy and in the App Store and Google Play privacy details.

This page explains the technical behaviour and lists typical obligations. It is not legal advice.

#Consent modes

Choose the mode in configure:

X3.configure(key: "pk_3x_YOUR_APP_KEY", options: X3Options(consent: X3ConsentOptions(mode: .optIn)))

X3.configure(context, "pk_3x_YOUR_APP_KEY", X3Options(consent = X3ConsentOptions(mode = X3ConsentMode.OPT_OUT)))

X3.configure("pk_3x_YOUR_APP_KEY", { consent: { mode: "always", purposes: { adPlatforms: true } } });

await X3.configure('pk_3x_YOUR_APP_KEY', const X3Options(consent: X3ConsentOptions(mode: X3ConsentMode.optIn)));

Typical choices (your counsel decides): opt_in for apps with users in the EU when you rely on consent; opt_out where your legal basis allows measurement by default with an easy way out; always when you have another legal basis (for example outside the EU, or an internal company app) and still offer an opt-out in your settings. The dashboard shows the mode each app reports (Einstellungen › Apps), so you can check every release.

Buffer until a decision. In opt_in mode the option bufferUntilDecision: true keeps this process's events in memory (at most 200, never on disk) until the user decides: granted, they are sent; denied, they are dropped. Without it, everything before the decision is lost on purpose.

Changing the mode between app versions. Persisted decisions keep their meaning: a user who granted analytics in an opt_in version stays granted after you switch to opt_out, and a user who opted out stays opted out.

#Purposes

purposes in configure says which purposes your app uses at all. Defaults: analytics and attribution on, recordings and adPlatforms off. A purpose that is not used is never asked for and never active. analytics is the base: without it nothing else is sent either.

Each batch carries the consent mode and a four-letter consent string in the order analytics, attribution, recordings, adPlatforms, with g granted, d denied, p pending and x not used: gdxx means analytics granted, attribution denied, recordings and ad platforms not used.

#State rules

The effective state of a used purpose:

X3.consentState() returns the mode, the four states, optedOut and needsDecision (mode opt_in, some used purpose still pending, not opted out). Show your consent screen when needsDecision is true.

Decisions are stored in consent.json in the SDK's private directory, the only file the SDK writes while analytics is not granted. Only explicit decisions are stored; a later version of your app reads them back.

#Transitions

#Changing consent from code

X3.consent(X3ConsentUpdate(recordings: true, adPlatforms: false))   // per purpose
X3.consentAll(true)                                                 // every used purpose
X3.setOptOut(true)                                                  // the "Allow measurement" switch off
let state = X3.consentState()
let subscription = X3.onConsentChange { state in }                  // main queue; subscription.cancel()

Kotlin X3.consent(X3ConsentUpdate(recordings = true)), X3.addConsentListener { state -> }; React Native X3.onConsentChange(listener) returns an unsubscribe function; Flutter X3.consentChanges is a stream.

Consent management platforms. X3 has no adapters for mobile CMPs. Call X3.consent(…) from your CMP's callback (Usercentrics, OneTrust, Didomi and others), mapping your CMP's categories to the four purposes, and set the mode to opt_in.

#Consent UI helpers

The helpers never show themselves; you decide when. They follow the device language (de* → German, otherwise English), support Dynamic Type and font scaling, VoiceOver and TalkBack, 44 pt / 48 dp touch targets and light and dark appearance.

Consent sheet. Lists the used purposes (usage analytics first, then install attribution, session recordings, ad measurement) with a switch each (on for granted, off otherwise), a link to your privacy policy when you set its URL, and three equally prominent buttons: Alle akzeptieren (grant all used purposes), Ablehnen (deny all used purposes), Auswahl speichern (apply the switches).

Settings. The same switches, applied immediately. In mode always it shows an info line and one switch Messung erlauben (Allow measurement) bound to setOptOut.

Default texts (override any of them with X3ConsentTexts; {app} is the app's display name or appName):

If you change texts, keep them accurate: they must describe what your app really does with each purpose, and Ablehnen must stay as easy to reach as Alle akzeptieren.

#Your obligations

Whatever mode you choose, you are the controller of your users' data and X3 is your processor. You are responsible for the legal basis and for what you tell your users and the stores. Typical obligations (check them with your privacy counsel):

• Privacy policy. Name X3 Growth Intelligence (good vibes GmbH, Gartenstrasse 7, c/o excent AG, Zweigniederlassung Zug, 6300 Zug, Switzerland) as your processor, the purposes you use (usage analytics, install attribution, session recordings, ad measurement), what is collected (install id, screens and events, hashed user id and e-mail, purchases, campaign of the install, coarse location derived from the IP address), the ad platforms you report to, retention and the users' rights. The privacy policy template for websites is a starting point.
• App Store privacy details. Declare the data types of the modules you use in App Store Connect (table). Apple counts hashed e-mail addresses as e-mail addresses.
• App Tracking Transparency. When iOS conversions with user data (hashed e-mail, user id) go to ad platforms, Apple treats that as tracking: ask for ATT permission, declare tracking in App Store Connect, and set adPlatforms accordingly. X3 sends iOS user data to ad platforms only with ATT authorized (ATT rule).
• Google Play data safety. Fill in the data safety form with the Play rows for your modules.
• GDPR legal basis. Processing needs a legal basis (Art. 6 GDPR): consent (Art. 6(1)(a)) or, only after your own documented assessment, legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f)). Recordings and reporting to ad platforms are typically consent cases.
• Device access (§ 25 TDDDG, formerly TTDSG, and Art. 5(3) ePrivacy). Storing the install id on the device and reading device information (install referrer, Apple Ads token, ATT status) is access to the terminal equipment in the sense of § 25 TDDDG and Art. 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive; the EDPB guidelines 2/2023 on its technical scope apply to apps as much as to browsers. Unless an exception applies, this needs consent; opt_in is the mode for that.
• Data subject rights. Answer access and deletion requests. Delete a user's app data with POST /v1/projects/{project}/app-users/erase (by user id, e-mail or install id); Apple also requires account deletion inside apps that offer accounts.
• Data processing agreement. Conclude the DPA (Art. 28 GDPR) with X3 before you go live (processor and DPA).
• Recordings. Apple's App Review Guideline 2.5.14 requires explicit consent and a clear visual indication when an app records user activity; keep the recording indicator on.

X3 makes no promise of legal compliance on your behalf, and your texts should not either without your counsel's review.

You decide how consent works in your app, and you are responsible for that decision. X3 implements your choice technically but does not check whether it is legally right for your users and countries. Clarify the legal basis with your privacy counsel and describe X3 in your privacy policy and in the App Store and Google Play privacy details.

#Health projects

Projects with the health preset keep stricter rules regardless of the mode you choose:

• recordings are accepted only from an explicit opt-in grant: an app in mode always or opt_out records nothing in a health project, and the server refuses its packets;
• conversions are uploaded to ad platforms only from explicit opt-in grants of adPlatforms;
• the health preset's recording rules apply as on the web: masking relaxations are locked, more screens are excluded and recordings cannot be shared by link (recordings);
• health data needs explicit consent (Art. 9 GDPR): use opt_in for every purpose.

#What the server checks