PUBG Mobile claims data from Indian users is stored locally: Here’s what is stored

PUBG Mobile has changed its privacy policy for India after the game came under the radar after India banned 47 more Chinese apps recently.

While we still do not know for sure if PUBG Mobile is on the list of the 275 apps the government is currently scrutinising, there have been several reports stating that it is. The policy change for India follows these reports. (PUBG Mobile)

PUBG Mobile has changed its privacy policy for India and this announcement comes after the Indian government banned 47 Chinese apps recently. A list of 275 apps have come under the government's radar for scrutiny and the 47 banned are mostly lite clones of the 59 apps the government banned late in June this year.

While we still do not know for sure if PUBG Mobile is on the list of the 275 apps the government is currently scrutinising, there have been several reports stating that it is. The policy change for India follows these reports.

The privacy policy for India for PUBG Mobile is a revised one that states that the data procured from Indian users will be stored on serves located in India. The company has also mentioned that they have a support team, engineering team etc in India.

The revised policy states that PUBG Mobile servers are located in India for users here and in Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and the US. Their support, engineering and other teams are located in their offices globally including the People's Republic of China (PRC) “for the purpose of this privacy policy, this term excludes Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR”, India (for users here), US and Hong Kong SAR who will have access to user information.

PUBG Mobile stated that they use third parties when it comes to sharing information so as users get the best possible experience from cloud services for backup, fraud detection and support ticketing. The company added that these third-party service providers work on providing support for Game Services (like sharing in-game photos), for processing customer support ticket IDs and support communication, marketing and advertisements, updates and information for Game Services, to arrange e-sports events and payment processes, security and fraud detection etc.

The company added that all the other service providers are prohibited from retaining, using and disclosing any personal information of users for any purpose other than to provide the company their services as support. And these other parties include companies that are within the Tencent corporate group, regulators, judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies etc.

So, what changes for PUBG Mobile players in India?

Largely it means that data is not being sent overseas and is stored right in the country. It is also not being sold to third parties for any purpose.

Otherwise, nothing else changes for players here - you can keep playing as you were.

What personal data does PUBG Mobile store?

The company explained in its new privacy policy that they automatically collect data that includes your open ID, IP address, device information like app version, OS version, battery level etc, registration time, login time and information about how you have used the Game Services including dates and time stamps of actions.

You can read the entire policy here.

Most importantly, PUBG Mobile has stated that user data is stored anywhere seven to 30 days until after your account has been deleted. If you don't opt for account deletion, then your data will be stored for a year before being automatically deleted.