Privacy and smartphones is something of a popular — and important! — topic, especially after the last few years of spying scandals and security breaches. It's often not clear how much data from your device is being collected, not just by your apps and by Google, but by the manufacturers. It's also often unclear just how to turn that off on your phone should you wish to not have your data being shared with them.
Well, Motorola wants to respect your wishes, and so the company has made it easy not only to disable device feedback but also for Moto X users to see exactly what the privacy policy for its phone is.
It's transparency done right, and it's worth highlighting here.
Motorola Help is more than just a shortcut to tech support — although that is a lovely little feature to have — it is also the user manual, troubleshooting guide, and if need be a teacher with the "Show me how" section. It seems odd to hide the device feedback setting here, but keep in mind that Moto Help is one of the only apps on your Moto X that actually connects to your Motorola ID, which is the account through which your device's feedback is sent.
Upon hitting the settings gear on the top right corner, we find ourself in settings, and our quarry is front and center: Motorola Privacy.
Motorola puts an explanation up top, and then it gives us our options, and at the bottom is the link we applaud: the link to the full Motorola Privacy Policy. Clicking the Motorola Privacy Policy will open a nice white window with, featuring links to popular sections at the top. Above the policy, we have two options for limiting sharing our data: we can disable device usage statistics, or we can simply turn off enhanced device support.
Another praiseworthy note: if you tap on either of these titles rather than on the toggle, you will be taken into that section of the Motorola Privacy Policy, which explains that device statistics are anonymized and are used when making future devices so they can learn from current flaws/features/user behaviors. Enhanced device support does share specific information about your account, device, and identity in order to better help you during troubleshooting, say during those chats with tech support in Moto Help.
We applaud Motorola including an easy-to-find and easy-to-use privacy policy and privacy settings, and wish every phone was this transparent about what is usually an unseen and unknown mystery.
Do you disable any of these settings? Do you find it reassuring to be able to read what information Motorola collects, how its stored, and what Motorola does with it? Is there any way manufacturers could make this any better for users?
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