Microsoft Privacy Statement

Microsoft is committed to protecting the security of your personal data. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal data from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. For example, we store the personal data you provide on computer systems that have limited access and are in controlled facilities. When we transmit highly confidential data (such as a credit card number or password) over the internet, we protect it through the use of encryption. Microsoft complies with applicable data protection laws, including applicable security breach notification laws.

Personal data collected by Microsoft may be stored and processed in your region, in the United States, and in any other country where Microsoft or its affiliates, subsidiaries, or service providers operate facilities. Microsoft maintains major data centres in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Typically, the primary storage location is in the customer’s region or in the United States, often with a backup to a data centre in another region. The storage location(s) are chosen in order to operate efficiently, to improve performance, and to create redundancies in order to protect the data in the event of an outage or other problem. We take steps to ensure that the data we collect under this privacy statement is processed according to the provisions of this statement and the requirements of applicable law wherever the data is located.

We transfer personal data from the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland to other countries, some of which have not yet been determined by the European Commission to have an adequate level of data protection. For example, their laws may not guarantee you the same rights, or there may not be a privacy supervisory authority there that is capable of addressing your complaints. When we engage in such transfers, we use a variety of legal mechanisms, including contracts, to help ensure your rights and protections travel with your data. To learn more about the European Commission’s decisions on the adequacy of the protection of personal data in the countries where Microsoft processes personal data, see this article on the European Commission website.

Microsoft Corporation complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of personal information transferred from the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland to the United States. Microsoft Corporation has certified to the Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Privacy Shield Principles. If third-party agents process personal data on our behalf in a manner inconsistent with the principles of either Privacy Shield framework, we remain liable unless we prove we are not responsible for the event giving rise to the damage. The controlled U.S. subsidiaries of Microsoft Corporation, as identified in our self-certification submission, also adhere to the Privacy Shield Principles—for more info, see the list of Microsoft U.S. entities or subsidiaries adhering to the Privacy Shield Principles.

If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the Privacy Shield Principles, the Privacy Shield Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Privacy Shield programme, and to view our certification, visit the Privacy Shield website.

If you have a question or complaint related to participation by Microsoft in the EU-U.S. or Swiss-U.S. Privacy Shield, we encourage you to contact us via our web form. For any complaints related to the Privacy Shield frameworks that Microsoft cannot resolve directly, we have chosen to cooperate with the relevant EU Data Protection Authority, or a panel established by the European data protection authorities, for resolving disputes with EU individuals, and with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) for resolving disputes with Swiss individuals. Please contact us if you’d like us to direct you to your data protection authority contacts. As further explained in the Privacy Shield Principles, binding arbitration is available to address residual complaints not resolved by other means. Microsoft is subject to the investigatory and enforcement powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Microsoft retains personal data for as long as necessary to provide the products and fulfil the transactions you have requested, or for other legitimate purposes such as complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes and enforcing our agreements. Because these needs can vary for different data types, the context of our interactions with you or your use of products, actual retention periods can vary significantly.

Other criteria used to determine the retention periods include:

• Do customers provide, create, or maintain the data with the expectation we will retain it until they affirmatively remove it? Examples include a document you store in OneDrive, or an email message you keep in your Outlook.com inbox. In such cases, we would aim to maintain the data until you actively delete it, such as by moving an email from your Outlook.com inbox to the Deleted Items folder, and then emptying that folder (when your Deleted Items folder is emptied, those emptied items remain in our system for up to 30 days before final deletion). (Note that there may be other reasons why the data has to be deleted sooner, for example if you exceed limits on how much data can be stored in your account.)
• Is there an automated control, such as in the Microsoft privacy dashboard, that enables the customer to access and delete the personal data at any time? If there is not, a shortened data retention time will generally be adopted.
• Is the personal data of a sensitive type? If so, a shortened retention time would generally be adopted.
• Has Microsoft adopted and announced a specific retention period for a certain data type? For example, for Bing search queries, we de-identify stored queries by removing the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session identifiers that are used to identify a particular account or device after 18 months.
• Has the user provided consent for a longer retention period? If so, we will retain data in accordance with your consent.
• Is Microsoft subject to a legal, contractual, or similar obligation to retain or delete the data? Examples can include mandatory data retention laws in the applicable jurisdiction, government orders to preserve data relevant to an investigation, or data retained for the purposes of litigation. Conversely, if we are required by law to remove unlawful content, we will do so.

If you are a California resident, we process your personal data in accordance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This CCPA section of our Privacy Statement contains information required by the CCPA and supplements our Privacy Statement.

Sale. We do not sell your personal data. So, we do not offer an opt-out to the sale of personal data.

Rights. You have the right to request that we (i) disclose what personal data we collect, use, disclose, and sell and (ii) delete your personal data. You may make these requests yourself or through an authorised agent. If you use an authorised agent, we provide your agent with detailed guidance on how to exercise your CCPA rights.

If you have a Microsoft account, you must exercise your rights through the Microsoft privacy dashboard, which requires you to log in to your Microsoft account. If you have an additional request or questions after using the dashboard, you may contact Microsoft at the address in the How to contact us section or use our web form. If you do not have an account, you may exercise your rights by contacting us as described above. We may ask for additional information, such as your country of residence, email address, and phone number, to validate your request before honoring the request.

You have a right not to receive discriminatory treatment if you exercise your CCPA rights. We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your CCPA rights.

Personal Information Processing. In the bulleted list below, we outline the categories of personal data we collect, the sources of the personal data, our purposes of processing, and the categories of third-party recipients with whom we share the personal data. For a description of the data included in each category, please see the Personal data we collect section.

Categories of Personal Data

• Name and contact data
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and partners with whom we offer co-branded services
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide our products; respond to customer questions; help, secure, and troubleshoot; and marketing
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Credentials
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and organisations that represent users
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide our products; authentication and account access; and help, secure and troubleshoot
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Demographic data
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and purchases from data brokers
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide and personalise our products; product development; help, secure, and troubleshoot; and marketing
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Payment data
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and financial institutions
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Transact commerce; process transactions; fulfil orders; help, secure, and troubleshoot; and detect and prevent fraud
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Subscription and licensing data
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and organisations that represent users
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide, personalise, and activate our products; customer support; help, secure, and troubleshoot; and marketing
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Interactions
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users including data Microsoft generates through those interactions
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide and personalise our products; product improvement; product development; marketing; and help, secure and troubleshoot
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Content
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and organisations that represent users
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide our products; safety; and help, secure, and troubleshoot
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Video or recordings
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users and publicly available sources
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide our products; product improvement; product development; marketing; help, secure, and troubleshoot; and safety
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities
• Feedback and ratings
  • Sources of personal data: Interactions with users
  • Purposes of Processing (Collection and Sharing with Third Parties): Provide our products; product improvement; product development; customer support; and help, secure, and troubleshoot
  • Recipients: Service providers and user-directed entities

While the bulleted list above contains the primary sources and purposes of processing for each category of personal data, we also collect personal data from the sources listed in the Personal data we collect section, such as developers who create experiences through or for Microsoft products. Similarly, we process all categories of personal data for the purposes described in the How we use personal data section, such as meeting our legal obligations, developing our workforce, and doing research.

Disclosures of personal data for business or commercial purposes. As indicated in the Reasons we share personal data section, we share personal data with third parties for various business and commercial purposes. The primary business and commercial purposes for which we share personal data are the purposes of processing listed in the table above. However, we share all categories of personal data for the business and commercial purposes in the Reasons we share personal data section.

Advertising allows us to provide, support, and improve some of our products. Microsoft does not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voicemail, or your documents, photos, or other personal files to target ads to you. We use other data, detailed below, for advertising in our products and on third-party properties. For example:

• Microsoft may use data we collect to select and deliver some of the ads you see on Microsoft web properties, such as Microsoft.com, MSN, and Bing.
• When the advertising ID is enabled in Windows 10 as part of your privacy settings, third parties can access and use the advertising ID (much the same way that websites can access and use a unique identifier stored in a cookie) to select and deliver ads in such apps.
• We may share data we collect with partners, such as Verizon Media, AppNexus, or Facebook (see below), so that the ads you see in our products and their products are more relevant and valuable to you.
• Advertisers may choose to place our web beacons on their sites, or use similar technologies, in order to allow Microsoft to collect information on their sites such as activities, purchases, and visits; we use this data on behalf of our advertising customers to provide ads.

The ads that you see may be selected based on data we process about you, such as your interests and favourites, your location, your transactions, how you use our products, your search queries, or the content you view. For example, if you view content on MSN about cars, we may show advertisements about cars; if you search “pizza places in Seattle” on Bing, you may see advertisements in your search results for restaurants in Seattle.

The ads that you see may also be selected based on other information learnt about you over time using demographic data, location data, search queries, interests and favourites, usage data from our products and sites, and the information we collect about you from the sites and apps of our advertisers and partners. We refer to these ads as "personalised advertising" in this statement. For example, if you view gaming content on xbox.com, you may see offers for games on MSN. To provide personalised advertising, we combine cookies placed on your device using information that we collect (such as IP address) when your browser interacts with our websites. If you opt out of receiving personalised advertising, data associated with these cookies will not be used.

We may use information about you to serve you with personalised advertising when you use Microsoft services. If you are logged in with your Microsoft account and have consented to allow Microsoft Edge to use your online activity for personalised advertising, you will see offers for products and services based on your online activity while using Microsoft Edge. To configure your privacy settings for Edge, go to Microsoft Edge > Settings > Privacy and Services. To configure your privacy and ad settings for your Microsoft account with respect to your online activity across browsers, including Microsoft Edge, or when visiting third-party websites or apps, go to your dashboard at privacy.microsoft.com.

Further details regarding our advertising-related uses of data include:

• Advertising industry best practises and commitments. Microsoft is a member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) and adheres to the NAI Code of Conduct. We also adhere to the following self-regulatory programmes:
  • In the US: Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA)
  • In Europe: European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA)
  • In Canada: Ad Choices: Digital Advertising Alliance of Canada (DAAC)/ Choix de Pub: l'Alliance de la publicité numérique du Canada (DAAC)
• Children and advertising. We do not deliver personalised advertising to children whose birthdate in their Microsoft account identifies them as under 16 years of age.
• Data retention. For personalised advertising, we retain data for no more than 13 months, unless we obtain your consent to retain the data longer.
• Data sharing. In some cases, we share with advertisers reports about the data we have collected on their sites or ads.

Data collected by other advertising companies. Advertisers sometimes include their own web beacons (or those of their other advertising partners) within their advertisements that we display, enabling them to set and read their own cookie. Additionally, Microsoft partners with third-party ad companies to help provide some of our advertising services, and we also allow other third-party ad companies to display advertisements on our sites. These third parties may place cookies on your computer and collect data about your online activities across websites or online services. These companies currently include, but are not limited to: AppNexus, Facebook, Media.net, Outbrain, Taboola and Verizon Media. Select any of the preceding links to find more information on each company's practises, including the choices it offers. Many of these companies are also members of the NAI or DAA, which each provide a simple way to opt out of ad targeting from participating companies.

Microsoft offers preview, insider, beta or other free-of-charge products and features ("previews") to enable you to evaluate them while providing Microsoft with data about your use of the product, including feedback and device and usage data. As a result, previews can automatically collect additional data, provide fewer controls, and otherwise employ different privacy and security measures than those typically present in our products. If you participate in previews, we may contact you about your feedback or your interest in continuing to use the product after general release.

We update this privacy statement when necessary to provide greater transparency or in response to:

• Feedback from customer, regulators, industry, or other stakeholders.
• Changes in our products.
• Changes in our data processing activities or policies.

When we post changes to this statement, we will revise the "last updated" date at the top of the statement and describe the changes on the Change history page. If there are material changes to the statement, such as a change to the purposes of processing of personal data that is not consistent with the purpose for which it was originally collected, we will notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes before they take effect or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to learn how Microsoft is protecting your information.

If you have a privacy concern, complaint, or question for the Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer or EU Data Protection Officer, please contact us by using our web form. We will respond to questions or concerns within 30 days. You can also raise a concern or lodge a complaint with a data protection authority or other official with jurisdiction.

When Microsoft is a controller, unless otherwise stated, Microsoft Corporation and, for those in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited are the data controllers for personal data we collect through the products subject to this statement. Our addresses are:

• Microsoft Privacy, Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, Washington 98052, USA. Telephone: +1 (425) 882 8080.
• Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, Attn: Data Protection Officer, One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland. Telephone: +353 1 706 3117.

To find the Microsoft subsidiary in your country or region, see the list of Microsoft office locations around the world.

Where French law applies, you can also send us specific instructions regarding the use of your personal data after your death, by using our web form.

If you have a technical or support question, please visit Microsoft Support to learn more about Microsoft Support offerings. If you have a personal Microsoft account password question, please visit Microsoft account support.

To provide the Enterprise Online Services, Microsoft uses data you provide (including Customer Data, Personal Data, Administrator Data, Payment Data, and Support Data) and data Microsoft collects or generates associated with your use of the Enterprise Online Services. We process data as described in the Online Services Terms (OST) and the Microsoft Trust Centre.

Personal Data. Customer is the controller of Personal Data and Microsoft is the processor of such data, except when (a) Customer acts as a processor of Personal Data, in which case Microsoft is a subprocessor, (b) Microsoft is processing Personal Data for its legitimate business operations, in which case Microsoft is a controller, or (c) stated otherwise in the OST. Microsoft is a controller of Personal Data when processing Personal Data for its legitimate business operations associated with providing the service, such as billing and preparing invoices; account management; compensation; financial reporting; business planning and product strategy; improving core functionality for accessibility, privacy, and energy efficiency; and combatting fraud, cybercrime, and cyberattacks on Microsoft products. We generally aggregate Personal Data before using it for our legitimate business operations, removing the ability to identify specific individuals. We use personal data in the least identifiable form that will support processing necessary for legitimate business operations.

Administrator Data. Administrator Data is the information provided to Microsoft during sign-up, purchase, or administration of Enterprise Online Services. We use Administrator Data to provide the Enterprise Online Services, complete transactions, service the account, detect and prevent fraud, and comply with our legal obligations. Administrator Data includes the name, address, phone number, and email address you provide, as well as aggregated usage data related to your account, such as the controls you select. Administrator Data also includes contact information of your colleagues and friends if you agree to provide it to Microsoft for the limited purpose of sending them an invitation to use the Enterprise Online Services; we contact those individuals with communications that include information about you, such as your name and profile photo.

As needed, we use Administrator Data to contact you to provide information about your account, subscriptions, billing, and updates to the Enterprise Online Services, including information about new features, security, or other technical issues. We also contact you regarding third-party enquiries we receive regarding use of the Enterprise Online Services, as described in your agreement. You cannot unsubscribe from these non-promotional communications. We may also contact you regarding information and offers about other products and services, or share your contact information with Microsoft's partners. When such a partner has specific services or solutions to meet your needs, or to optimise your use of the Enterprise Online Services, we may share limited, aggregated information about your organisation’s account with the partner. Microsoft will not share your confidential information or contact information with the authorised partner unless we have sufficient rights to do so. You can manage your contact preferences or update your information in your account profile.

Payment Data. We use payment data to complete transactions, as well as to detect and prevent fraud.

Support Data. Customers provide or authorise Microsoft to collect data in connection with obtaining technical support for the Enterprise Online Services. We process Support Data to provide technical support and as described in the OST.

Some Enterprise Online Services require, or are enhanced by, the installation of local software (e.g., agents, device management applications) on a device. At your direction, the local software may transmit (i) data, which can include Customer Data, from a device or appliance to or from the Enterprise Online Services; or (ii) logs or error reports to Microsoft for troubleshooting purposes. The Enterprise Online Services, including local software, collect device and usage data that is transmitted to Microsoft and analysed to improve the quality, security, and integrity of our products.

Bing Search Services, as defined in the OST, use data such as search queries as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement.

Enterprise and developer software and enterprise appliances collect data to operate effectively and provide you the best experiences. The data we collect depends on the features you use, as well as your configuration and settings, but it is generally limited to device and usage data. Customers have choices about the data they provide. Here are examples of the data we collect:

• During installation or when you upgrade an enterprise and developer software, we may collect device and usage data to learn whether you experience any difficulties.
• When you use enterprise software or enterprise appliances, we may collect device and usage data to learn about your operating environment to improve security features.
• When you experience a crash using enterprise software or enterprise appliances, you may choose to send Microsoft an error report to help us diagnose the problem and deliver customer support.

Microsoft uses the data we collect from enterprise and developer software and enterprise appliances to provide and improve our products, to deliver customer support, to activate the product, to communicate with you, and to operate our business.

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management platform and includes products that can be installed separately (such as SQL Server Management Studio). For detailed information about what data we collect, how we use it, and how to manage your privacy options, visit the SQL Server privacy page. If you work in an organisation, your administrator can set certain telemetry settings in SQL Server via Group Policy.

HoloLens. HoloLens headsets are self-contained Windows computers with Wi-Fi connectivity that enable a mixed reality experience for apps and solutions. Microsoft collects diagnostic data to solve problems and to keep Windows running on HoloLens up to date, secure, and operating properly. Diagnostic data also helps us improve HoloLens and related Microsoft products and services depending on the diagnostic data settings you’ve chosen for your device. Learn more about Windows diagnostic data.

HoloLens also processes and collects data related to the HoloLens experience and device, which include cameras, microphones, and infrared sensors that enable motions and voice to navigate.

• If you choose, cameras can be used to sign you in automatically using your iris. To do this, HoloLens takes an image of your iris and measures distances between key points to create and store a numeric value that represents only you. This data stays on the HoloLens and is not shared with anyone, and you can choose to delete this data from your HoloLens at any time.
• HoloLens also detects hand gestures intended for system interactions (such as menu navigation, pan/zoom, and scroll). This data is processed on your HoloLens device and is not stored.
• HoloLens derives tracking points based on your environment which allows it to understand surfaces in space and allows you to place digital assets on them. There are no images associated with this environmental data and it is stored locally on the HoloLens device. You can choose to delete this data from your HoloLens at any time.

The headset's microphones enable voice commands for navigation, controlling apps, or to enter search terms. Learn more about voice data collection.

Bing services include search and mapping services, as well as the Bing Toolbar and Bing Desktop apps. Bing services collect and process data in many forms, including text that has been inked or typed, speech data, and images. Bing services are also included within other Microsoft services, such as MSN Apps, Office, Cortana, and certain features in Windows (which we refer to as Bing-powered experiences).

When you conduct a search, or use a feature of a Bing-powered experience that involves conducting a search or entering a command on your behalf, Microsoft will collect the searches or commands you provide (which may be in the form of text, voice data, or an image), along with your IP address, location, the unique identifiers contained in our cookies or similar technologies, the time and date of your search, and your browser configuration. For example, if you use Bing voice-enabled services, your voice input and performance data associated with the speech functionality will be sent to Microsoft. And, if you use Bing image-enabled services, the image you provide will be sent to Microsoft. When you use Bing-powered experiences, such as Ask Cortana or Bing Lookup to search a particular word or phrase within a webpage or document, that word or phrase is sent to Bing along with some surrounding content in order to provide contextually relevant search results.

Search suggestions. For the search suggestions feature, the characters that you type into a Bing-powered experience (such as search and site suggestions in the Microsoft Edge browser) to conduct a search and what you click on will be sent to Microsoft. This allows us to provide you with relevant suggestions as you type your searches. To turn this feature on or off, while using Bing Search, go to Bing Settings. There are other methods to control this feature in other Bing-powered experiences, such as the Microsoft Edge browser. Search Suggestions cannot be turned off in the Windows 10 search box. On Windows, you can always hide the search box so as not to use the feature.

Bing experience improvement programme for Bing Desktop and Bing Toolbar. If you are using Bing Desktop or Bing Toolbar and choose to participate in the Bing Experience Improvement Programme, we also collect additional data about how you use these specific Bing apps, such as the addresses of the websites you visit, to help improve search ranking and relevance. To help protect your privacy, we do not use the data collected through the Bing Experience Improvement Programme to identify or contact you or target advertising to you. You can turn off the Bing Experience Improvement Programme at any time in the Bing Desktop or Bing Toolbar settings. Finally, we delete the information collected through the Bing Experience Improvement Programme after 18 months.

Retention and de-identification. We de-identify stored search queries by removing the entirety of the IP address after 6 months, and cookie IDs and other cross-session identifiers that are used to identify a particular account or device after 18 months.

Personalisation through Microsoft account. Some Bing services provide you with an enhanced experience when you sign in with your personal Microsoft account, for example, syncing your search history across devices. You can use these personalisation features to customise your interests, favourites, and settings, and to connect your account with third-party services. Visit Bing Settings to manage your personalisation settings, or the Microsoft privacy dashboard to manage your data.

Managing search history. When you’re signed-in to a personal Microsoft account, you can erase your search history on the Microsoft privacy dashboard. The Search History service from Bing, located in Bing Settings, provides another method of revisiting the search terms you've entered and results you've clicked when using Bing search through your browser. You may clear your search history on a device through this service. Clearing your history prevents that history from being displayed on the Search History site, but does not delete information from our search logs, which are retained and de-identified as described above or as you have instructed through the privacy dashboard. If you are signed-in to a work or school Microsoft account using Microsoft Search in Bing, you can export your Microsoft Search in Bing search history, but you cannot delete it. Your Microsoft Search in Bing service administrator can see aggregated search history across all enterprise users but cannot see specific searches by user.

Third-party services that use Bing. You may access Bing-powered experiences when using third-party services, such as those from Yahoo!. In order to provide these services, Bing receives data from these and other partners, including your search query and related data (such as date, time, IP address, and a unique identifier). This data will be sent to Microsoft to provide the search service. Microsoft will use this data as described in this statement or as further limited by our contractual obligations with our partners. You should refer to the privacy policies of the third-party services for any questions about how they collect and use data.

Search query passed in referral URL. When you select a search result or advertisement from a Bing search results page and go to the destination website, the destination website will receive the standard data your browser sends to every web site you visit—such as your IP address, browser type and language, and the URL of the site you came from (in this case, the Bing search results page). Because the URL of the Bing search results page contains the text of the search query you entered (which could include names, addresses, or other identifying information), the destination website will be able to determine the search term you entered.

If your browser is enabled to allow pages to pre-load in the background for faster performance, when your browser loads a page in the background, it will have the same effect as if you visited that page, including sending the Bing search results page URL (containing your search query) and downloading any cookies or similar technologies that page sets.

Sharing data from Bing and Bing-powered experiences with third parties. We share some de-identified data (data where the identity of a specific person is not known) from Bing and Bing-powered experiences with selected third parties. Before we do so, we run the data through a process designed to remove certain sensitive data that users may have included in the search terms themselves (such as social security numbers or credit card numbers). Additionally, we require these third parties to keep the data secure and to not use the data for purposes other than for which it is provided.

Cortana is your intelligent assistant that provides smart features and personalised experiences across a variety of devices, apps, and services. As described below, the data we collect when you use Cortana depends on the choices you make (including your privacy settings and whether or not you are signed-in), the data you share with Cortana, and Cortana’s capabilities (which vary depending on your operating system, device, and the services and apps you use). Cortana works best when you sign in and allow use of data from your device, your Microsoft account, other Microsoft services, and third-party services to which you choose to connect.

You can manage what data Cortana uses or remembers about you in Cortana Settings, Permissions, Notebook, and the Microsoft privacy dashboard. More about Cortana features and how to manage them can be found at Cortana and privacy.

The data Cortana collects is used to provide, improve, personalise, and develop Cortana and other Microsoft products. For example:

• Cortana uses information about your interests to recommend features you may enjoy.
• Cortana shares information with third parties at your direction to complete a task or transaction you’ve requested, or help you with a skill such as booking a ride share service.
• Microsoft uses your voice data to improve speech recognition and user intent understanding to improve Cortana and other Microsoft products.
• Cortana provides features that may process your personal and work data from other Microsoft products (e.g., Office) or third-party services. For example, when scheduling a meeting, Cortana can help you identify conflicts on both your personal and work calendars.

On Windows devices, if you choose not to sign in to Cortana, you can still chat with Cortana and use Cortana to search, using either your voice, inking, or typing.

When you use Cortana when you are signed out, we collect:

• Voice data. To help Cortana better understand the way you speak and your voice commands, we collect voice data and use it to build speech models and improve speech recognition and user intent understanding. If you choose to sign in, the speech models are more personalised.
• Searches and commands. We collect your searches and commands to provide, improve, and develop Cortana and other products. Your Bing search queries and the Search Suggestion feature, even if Cortana does the searching for you, are treated like any other Bing search queries and are used as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement.
• Device and usage data. We collect information about your device as well as the hardware and software you use. For example, Cortana can access data about your device and how you use it. For instance, Cortana can determine if Bluetooth is on, whether you’ve locked your screen, your alarm settings, and which apps you install and use.

If you sign in with your Microsoft account, you can enable Cortana to perform additional tasks and to provide personalised experiences and suggestions. Cortana can process the demographic data (such as your age, address, and gender) associated with your Microsoft account and data collected through other Microsoft services to provide personalised suggestions. For example, Cortana may send you a time to leave notification based on your schedule and address. Cortana also learns your favorite places from the Microsoft Maps app, and what you view and purchase in Microsoft Store to improve suggestions. Your interests in the Cortana Notebook can be used by other Microsoft services, such as Bing or MSN, to customise your interests, preferences and favourites in those experiences as well.

When you sign in to Cortana, in addition to the information described above, we also collect:

Location data. You can choose whether Cortana processes your location information to give you relevant notices and results and to make suggestions such as local traffic information and location-based reminders. If you grant permission, Cortana will regularly collect and use your current location, location history, and other location signals (such as locations tagged on photos you upload to OneDrive). Location data Cortana collects is used to provide you with personalised experiences across our products, such as making Bing search results more relevant. It may also be used in de-identified form to improve Microsoft’s location services.

Contacts, communications, and other inputs. You can choose to let Cortana collect and access your device and cloud-based email and other communications, your calendar and tasks, and your contacts to enable additional features and personalisation. If you give permission, Cortana will collect and process additional data, including:

• Contacts, text messages, and email. Cortana uses your contacts and messages to do a variety of things, such as: making calls in the Teams app, allowing you to add events to your calendar, apprising you of messages or important contacts, and keeping you up to date on events and important activities. Cortana also uses your contacts and messages to help you with planning and offers other suggestions.
• Communications history. Cortana learns who is most important to you and your preferred methods of communication by analysing your call, text message, and email history. Cortana uses this data to flag important messages for you (such as missed calls), and to improve the performance of features such as speech recognition.
• Calendar appointments. Cortana uses your calendars to provide reminders and information relevant to your appointments.

Browse history. If you choose, Cortana can use the Microsoft Edge browse history associated with your Microsoft account. Cortana uses this data to learn about you and provide you with intelligent answers and timely, personalised suggestions, or to complete web tasks for you. Cortana can also help you pick up where you left off on one device when browsing in Microsoft Edge on another device. Cortana won’t collect information about sites you visit in InPrivate tabs.

Connected services and skills. To enable greater personalisation and productivity, you can give Cortana permission to (i) collect data from other Microsoft and third-party services, and (ii) provide your information to those services. When enabled, Cortana provides your requests and responses to those services or third parties to enable them to provide you their information or services. With your permission, Cortana can send additional information (e.g., your location). Information you share with a third party is governed by the third party’s privacy policy and terms. Cortana also uses data about your use of connected services and skills to improve and develop Cortana and other Microsoft products. For example, we use this data, including your query sent to the third party, to improve speech recognition and user-intent understanding within Microsoft products. Below are examples of how your data is processed when you use connected services and skills:

• If you choose to connect Cortana to your work or school account, Cortana can access data stored in Office 365 to help you stay up to date, manage your email and calendar, and get insights about your meetings and relationships.
• Choosing to connect Cortana to LinkedIn allows Microsoft to access your LinkedIn data so Cortana can give you more personalised information and recommendations. It also enables LinkedIn to access the name, email address, job title, and company name of people you are meeting with to retrieve relevant information about those contacts.
• Cortana allows you to connect to third-party services to do more and get additional experiences from the third-party service. Cortana may also personalise your experiences based on your use of third-party skills. With your permission, Cortana can send information about you along with your request to third-parties that ask for it. For instance, when you ask Cortana to request you a ride, the ride provider will ask for your current location. Third-party skills provide their own separate terms and privacy statements. Please review those carefully before allowing Cortana to send information to them.

Whenever you use a web browser to access the internet, data about your device ("standard device data") is sent to the websites you visit and online services you use. Standard device data includes your device's IP address, browser type and language, access times, and referring website addresses. This data might be logged on those websites' or online services’ web servers. Which data is logged and how that data is used depends on the privacy practises of the websites you visit and web services you use. Additionally, Microsoft Edge sends a unique browser ID to certain websites to enable us to develop aggregate data used to improve browser features and services.

Microsoft Edge for Windows and macOS. Microsoft Edge is the default web browser for Windows 10 and is also available on other supported versions of Windows and macOS.

Data about how you use your browser, such as your browsing history, web form data, temporary internet files, and cookies, is stored on your device. You can delete this data from your device using Clear Browsing History.

Microsoft Edge allows you to capture and save content on your device, such as:

• Settings and More. Allows you to manage your favourites, downloads, history, extensions and collections.
• Collections. Allows you to collect text, images, videos, and other content in a note page in your browser. When you drag content into your collection, it is cached on your device and can be deleted through your collection.
• Website Pin to Taskbar: which allows you to pin your favorite websites to the Windows taskbar. Websites will be able to see which of their webpages you have pinned, so they can provide you a notification badge letting you know there is something new for you to check out on their websites.

Microsoft collects data necessary to provide features you request in Microsoft Edge. For example, you may choose to sync browser information saved on your device across other devices when you are signed in with your Microsoft account. You may choose which browser data to sync, including your favourites, extensions and associated data, settings, open tabs, autofill form entries (such as your name, address, and phone number), passwords, payment information, and other data types. If you choose to sync extensions that you acquired from third-party web stores, a copy of those extensions will be downloaded directly from those web stores on your synced device(s). You can disable or configure syncing in the Microsoft Edge settings.

Microsoft Edge’s Search and site suggestions uses your search queries and browsing history to provide you with faster browsing and more relevant search recommendations. Microsoft Edge sends the information you type into the browser address bar to the default search provider configured in the address bar to offer search recommendations as you type each character. You can turn off these features at any time in the browser settings. In order to provide search results, Microsoft Edge sends your search queries, standard device information, and location (if you have location enabled) to your default search provider. If Bing is your default search provider, we use this data as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement.

To improve your web experience, you may choose to share your Microsoft Edge browsing history from your Microsoft account to allow us to personalise advertising, Bing search, Microsoft News and other Microsoft services. For more information about our advertising privacy policies see the Advertising section of the privacy statement. If you disable the See ads that interest you setting in the Microsoft privacy dashboard, you will continue to receive personalised search and news based on your browsing history if you enabled the Improve your web experience by allowing Microsoft to use your browsing history from this account for personalising advertising, search, news and other Microsoft services setting in Microsoft Edge. You may disable this browser setting at any time to stop receiving personalised web experiences based on your browsing history.

Microsoft Edge collects required diagnostic data to solve problems and to keep Microsoft Edge up to date, secure, and operating properly. Required diagnostic data also helps us improve Microsoft Edge and Windows.

You can choose to send optional diagnostic data about how you use Microsoft Edge and information about your browser activity, including browsing history and search terms to Microsoft to help us improve Microsoft Edge and other Microsoft products and services. For Microsoft Edge on Windows 10, this information is provided when you have enabled optional diagnostic data. For details, see the Windows Diagnostics section of the privacy statement. For Microsoft Edge on other operating systems, optional diagnostic information is provided when you enable Improve Microsoft products by sending data about how you use the browser or Make searches and Microsoft products better by sending info about websites you visit in Microsoft Edge in the browser settings.

The diagnostic data collected by Microsoft Edge is transmitted to Microsoft and is stored with one or more unique identifiers that help us recognise an individual browser installation on a device and understand the browser's service issues and use patterns.

Learn more about Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge on iOS and Android. Microsoft Edge on iOS and Android devices collects data necessary to provide features you request in Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft also collects required diagnostic data to solve problems and to keep Microsoft Edge up to date, secure, and operating properly. Required diagnostic data also helps us improve Microsoft Edge.

Additionally, you may share optional diagnostic data about how you use Microsoft Edge and information about websites you visit (browsing history) for personalised experiences on your browser, Windows 10, and other Microsoft products and services. This information also helps us improve Microsoft Edge and other Microsoft products and services. This optional diagnostic data is sent to us when you enable Share usage data for personalisation or Share info about websites you visit in the browser settings.

The diagnostic data collected by Microsoft Edge is transmitted to Microsoft and is stored with one or more unique identifiers that help us recognise an individual user on a device and understand the browser's service issues and use patterns.

For information about the privacy practises of legacy versions Microsoft Edge (versions 44 and below), see the Web browsers—Microsoft Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer section of the privacy statement.

Microsoft Translator is a machine translation system designed to automatically translate text and speech between numerous supported languages.

Microsoft Translator (which includes apps for Android, iOS, Windows, Translator Hub, Translator for Bing, and Translator for Microsoft Edge, collectively “Translator”) processes the text, image, and speech data you submit, as well as device and usage data. We use this data to provide Translator, personalise your experiences, and improve our products. Microsoft has implemented business and technical measures designed to help de identify the data you submit to Translator. For example, when we randomly sample text to improve Translator, we delete identifiers and certain text, such as email addresses and some number sequences, detected in the sample that could contain personal data.

For more information on the Cognitive Services Translator Text API, Customised Translator, and Translator Speech API, see the Enterprise and developer products section of this privacy statement. For the Translate feature in Office, see the Productivity and communications products section of this privacy statement.

SwiftKey Keyboard and related products (collectively, the “SwiftKey Services”) process data about how you type and write, and use this data to learn your writing style and provide personalised auto-correction and predictive text that adapts to you. We also use this data to offer a range of other features, such as hashtag and emoji prediction.

SwiftKey prediction technology learns from the way you use language to build a personalised language model. This model is an optimised view of the words and phrases that you use most often in context and reflects your unique writing style. The model itself contains the words you commonly type arranged in a way to enable SwiftKey’s algorithms to make predictions based on what you type. The model draws from all scenarios in which you use your keyboard, including when you type while using apps or visiting websites. The SwiftKey keyboard and model attempts to avoid collecting sensitive data, such as fields flagged as containing password or payment data. SwiftKey Services do not log, store, or learn from data you type, or the data contained in your model, unless you choose to share your data with us (as described further below). When you use SwiftKey Services, we also collect device and usage data. We use de-identified device and usage data to analyse service performance and help improve our products.

The SwiftKey Services also include an optional cloud component called a SwiftKey Account. If you choose to create a SwiftKey Account, your language model will be synced with the SwiftKey Account cloud service, so you can benefit from that model on the different devices you use and access additional services such as personalisation, prediction synchronisation, and back up. When you create a SwiftKey Account, Microsoft will also collect your email address and basic demographic data. All data collected is transferred to our servers over encrypted channels.

SwiftKey Account holders have the option to use the SwiftKey personalisation service, which more quickly establishes and improves personalised predictions by allowing SwiftKey to access content on your device, including content you send through SMS, and certain apps such as Outlook.com, Gmail, Facebook and Twitter when you choose to connect them to the service.

You may also opt in to send short snippets of what and how you type for product improvement. To preserve your privacy, SwiftKey Services de-identifies these snippets, so they are not linked to your account. You can withdraw your consent to share these snippets at any time in SwiftKey Settings. You can also withdraw your consent to allow SwiftKey Services to use and retain your personal data at any time in SwiftKey Settings. When you withdraw consent, personal data collected through your use of the SwiftKey Services will be deleted.

You may receive occasional notifications on your device alerting you to product updates and features that may be of interest to you. You can disable these notifications at any time in the SwiftKey Settings.

When you activate Windows, a specific product key is associated with the device on which your software is installed. The product key and data about the software and your device is sent to Microsoft to help validate your licence to the software. This data may be sent again if there is a need to re-activate or validate your licence. On phones running Windows, device and network identifiers, as well as device location at the time of the first power-up of the device, are also sent to Microsoft for the purpose of warranty registration, stock replenishment, and fraud prevention.

Activity history helps keep track of the things you do on your device, such as the apps and services you use, the files you open, and the websites you browse. Your activity history is stored locally on your device when using different apps and features such as Microsoft Edge, some Microsoft Store apps, and Office apps. If you've signed in to your device with a Microsoft account and given your permission, Windows sends your activity history to Microsoft. Once your activity history is in the cloud, Microsoft uses that data to enable cross-device experiences, to provide you with the ability to continue those activities on other devices, to provide personalised experiences (such as ordering your activities based on duration of use) and relevant suggestions (such as anticipating what your needs might be based on your activity history), and to help improve Microsoft products.

Activity history is also created and sent to Microsoft when you use Microsoft apps, such as Microsoft Edge, and Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, on mobile devices such as iOS and Android phones and tablets. If you are signed in with your Microsoft account, you can continue activities on your Windows 10 device that you started in Microsoft apps on your Android or iOS device. You can turn settings off or on for sending your activity history to Microsoft and storing activity history locally on your device, and you can also clear your device’s activity history at any time by going to Start > Settings > Privacy > Activity history. Learn more about activity history in Windows 10.

Windows generates a unique advertising ID for each person using a device, which app developers and advertising networks can then use for their own purposes, including providing relevant advertising in apps. When the advertising ID is enabled, both Microsoft apps and third-party apps can access and use the advertising ID in much the same way that websites can access and use a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Thus, your advertising ID can be used by app developers and advertising networks to provide more relevant advertising and other personalised experiences across their apps and on the web. Microsoft collects the advertising ID for the uses described here only when you choose to enable the advertising ID as part of your privacy setting.

The advertising ID setting applies to Windows apps using the Windows advertising identifier. You can turn off access to this identifier at any time by turning off the advertising ID in Settings. If you choose to turn it on again, the advertising ID will be reset and a new identifier will be generated. When a third-party app accesses the advertising ID, its use of the advertising ID will be subject to its own privacy policy. Learn more about advertising ID in Windows 10.

The advertising ID setting does not apply to other methods of interest-based advertising delivered by Microsoft or third parties, such as cookies used to provide interest-based display ads on websites. Third-party products accessed through or installed on Windows may also deliver other forms of interest-based advertising subject to their own privacy policies. Microsoft delivers other forms of interest-based ads in certain Microsoft products, both directly and by partnering with third-party ad providers. For more information on how Microsoft uses data for advertising, see the How we use personal data section of this statement.

Microsoft collects Windows diagnostic data to solve problems and to keep Windows up to date, secure, and operating properly. It also helps us improve Windows and related Microsoft products and services and, for customers who have turned on the “Tailored experiences” setting, to provide more relevant tips and recommendations to tailor Microsoft and third-party products and services for Windows to the customer’s needs. This data is transmitted to Microsoft and stored with one or more unique identifiers that can help us recognise an individual user on an individual device and understand the device's service issues and use patterns.

There are two levels of diagnostic and activity data: Required diagnostic data and Optional diagnostic data. Certain product documentation and other materials refer to Required diagnostic data as Basic diagnostic data and to Optional diagnostic data as Full diagnostic data.

If an organisation (such as your employer or school) uses Microsoft management tools or engages Microsoft to manage your device, we and the organisation will use and process diagnostic and error data from your device to allow the management, monitoring, and troubleshooting of the organisation's devices, and for other purposes of the organisation.

Required diagnostic data includes information about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly. We collect the following Required diagnostic data:

• Device, connectivity and configuration data:
  • Data about the device such as the processor type, OEM manufacturer, type of battery and capacity, number and type of cameras, firmware and memory attributes.
  • Network capabilities and connection data such as the device’s IP address, mobile network (including IMEI and mobile operator), and whether the device is connected to a free or paid network.
  • Data about the operating system and its configuration, such as the OS version and build number, region and language settings, diagnostics data settings, and whether the device is part of the Windows Insider program.
  • Data about connected peripherals such as model, manufacturer, drivers and compatibility data.
  • Data about the applications installed on the device, such as application name, version and publisher.
• Whether a device is ready for an update and whether there are factors that may impede the ability to receive updates, such as low battery, limited disk space, or connectivity through a paid network.
• Whether updates complete successfully or fail.
• Data about the reliability of the diagnostics collection system itself.
• Basic error reporting, which is health data about the operating system and applications running on your device. For example, basic error reporting tells us if an application, such as Microsoft Paint or a third-party game, hangs or crashes.

Optional diagnostic data includes more detailed information about your device and its settings, capabilities, and device health. Optional diagnostic data also includes data about the websites you browse, device activity (also sometimes referred to as usage), and enhanced error reporting that helps Microsoft to fix and improve products and services for all users. When you choose to send Optional diagnostic data, Required diagnostic data will always be included, and we collect the following additional information:

• Additional data about the device, connectivity, and configuration, beyond that collected under Required diagnostic data.
• Status and logging information about the health of operating system and other system components beyond that collected about the update and diagnostics systems under Required diagnostic data.
• App activity, such as which programmes are launched on a device, how long they run, and how quickly they respond to input.
• Browser activity, including browsing history and search terms, in Microsoft browsers (Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer).
• Enhanced error reporting, including the memory state of the device when a system or app crash occurs (which may unintentionally contain user content, such as parts of a file you were using when the problem occurred). Crash data is never used for Tailored experiences as described below.

Some of the data described above may not be collected from your device even if you choose to send Optional diagnostic data. Microsoft minimises the volume of Optional diagnostic data it collects from all devices by collecting some of the data from only a subset of devices (sample). By running the Diagnostic Data Viewer tool, you can see an icon which indicates whether your device is part of a sample and also which specific data is collected from your device. Instructions for how to download the Diagnostic Data Viewer tool can be found at Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback.

Specific data items collected in Windows diagnostics are subject to change to give Microsoft flexibility to collect the data needed for the purposes described. For example, to ensure Microsoft can troubleshoot the latest performance issue impacting users’ computing experience or update a Windows 10 device that is new to the market, Microsoft may need to collect data items that were not collected previously. For a current list of data types collected at Required diagnostic data and Optional diagnostic data, see Windows Required (Basic level) diagnostic events and fields or Windows 10 Optional (Full level) diagnostic data. We provide limited portions of error report information to partners (such as the device manufacturer) to help them troubleshoot products and services which work with Windows and other Microsoft product and services. They are only permitted to use this information to repair or improve those products and services. We may also share some aggregated, de-identified diagnostic data, such as general usage trends for Windows apps and features, with selected third parties. Learn more about diagnostic data in Windows 10.

Inking and typing Recognition. You also can choose to help Microsoft improve inking and typing recognition by sending inking and typing diagnostic data. If you choose to do so, Microsoft will collect samples of the content you type or write to improve features such as handwriting recognition, autocompletion, next word prediction, and spelling correction in the many languages used by Windows customers. When Microsoft collects inking and typing diagnostic data, it is divided into small samples and processed to remove unique identifiers, sequencing information, and other data (such as email addresses and numeric values) which could be used to reconstruct the original content or associate the input to you. It also includes associated performance data, such as changes you manually make to text, as well as words you've added to the dictionary. Learn more about improving inking and typing in Windows 10.

If you choose to turn on Tailored experiences, we will use your Windows diagnostic data (Basic or Full as you have selected) to offer you personalised tips, ads and recommendations to enhance Microsoft experiences. If you have selected Basic as your diagnostic data setting, personalisation is based on information about your device, its settings and capabilities, and whether it is performing properly. If you have selected Full, personalisation is also based on information about how you use apps and features, plus additional information about the health of your device. However, we do not use information about the websites you browse, the content of crash dumps, speech, typing or inking input data for personalisation when we receive such data from customers who have selected Full.

Tailored experiences include suggestions on how to customise and optimise Windows, as well as ads and recommendations for Microsoft and third-party products and services, features, apps and hardware for your Windows experiences. For example, to help you get the most out of your device, we may tell you about features you may not know about or that are new. If you are having a problem with your Windows device, you may be offered a solution. You may be offered a chance to customise your lock screen with pictures, or to be shown more pictures of the kind you like, or fewer of the ones you don’t. If you stream movies in your browser, you may be recommended an app from the Microsoft Store that streams more efficiently. Or, if you are running out of space on your hard drive, Windows may recommend you try OneDrive or purchase hardware to gain more space. Learn more about tailored experiences in Windows 10.

Feedback Hub is a preinstalled app that provides a way to gather feedback on Microsoft products and installed first-party and third-party apps. You can sign into Feedback Hub using either your personal Microsoft account or an account provided by your organisation (such as your employer or school) that you use to sign into Microsoft products. Signing in with your work or school account allows you to submit feedback to Microsoft in association with your organisation.

Any feedback you provide whether using your work or school account or personal Microsoft account is publicly viewable. Additionally, if feedback is provided using your work or school account, your feedback can be viewed through the Feedback Hub by your organisation’s IT administrators.

When you submit feedback to Microsoft about a problem, or upvote a problem, diagnostic data will be sent to Microsoft to improve Microsoft products and services. Depending on your Diagnostic data settings in Start > Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback, Feedback Hub will either send diagnostic data automatically or you will have the option to send it to Microsoft at the time you provide feedback. Microsoft may also share your feedback and diagnostic data with Microsoft partners (such as a device manufacturer, or firmware developer) to help them troubleshoot products and services that work with Windows and other Microsoft products and services. Learn more about diagnostic data in Windows 10.

Windows location service. Microsoft operates a location service that helps determine the precise geographic location of a specific Windows device. Depending on the capabilities of the device, the device’s location can be determined with varying degrees of accuracy and may in some cases be determined precisely. When you have enabled location on a Windows device, or you have given permission for Microsoft apps to access location information on non-Windows devices, data about cell towers and Wi-Fi access points and their locations is collected by Microsoft and added to the location database after removing any data identifying the person or device from which it was collected. This de-identified copy of location information is used to improve Microsoft's location services and, in some instances, shared with our location service provider partners, currently HERE (see https://www.here.com/), to improve the location services of the provider.

Windows services and features (such as browsers and Cortana), apps running on Windows, and websites opened in Windows browsers can access the device’s location through Windows if your settings allow them to do so. Some features and apps request location permission when you first install Windows, some ask the first time you use the app, and others ask every time you access the device’s location. For information about certain Windows apps that use the device’s location, see the Windows apps section of this privacy statement.

When an app or feature accesses the device’s location and you are signed in with a Microsoft account, your Windows device will also upload its location to the cloud where it is available across your devices to other apps or services that use your Microsoft account and for which you’ve granted permission. We will retain only the last known location (each new location replaces the previous one). Data about a Windows device's recent location history is also stored on the device even if not using a Microsoft account, and certain apps and Windows features can access this location history. You can clear your device's location history at any time in the device's Settings menu.

In Settings, you can also view which apps have access to the device’s precise location or your device's location history, turn off or on access to the device’s location for particular apps, or turn off access to the device’s location. You can also set a default location, which will be used when the location service can’t detect a more exact location for your device.

Even when you’ve turned off access to the device’s location, some third-party desktop apps and services could use other technologies (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile modem, etc.) to determine the device’s precise location. Learn more about third-party desktop apps and how they may still be able to determine your device’s location when the device’s location setting is off.

In addition, to facilitate getting help in an emergency, whenever you make an emergency call, Windows will attempt to determine and share your precise location, regardless of your location settings. If your device has a SIM card or is otherwise using mobile service, your mobile operator will have access to your device’s location. Learn more about location in Windows 10.

General Location. If you turn on the General Location feature, apps that cannot use your precise location will have access to your general location, such as your city, postcode, or region.

Find My Phone. The Find My Phone feature allows you to find the location of your Windows phone from the Microsoft account website, even if you have turned off all access to the location service on the phone. If you have turned on the "save my location every few hours" feature in the Find My Phone settings on your phone, the Find My Phone feature will periodically send and store a single last-known location of your phone, even if you have turned off location services on your phone. Each time a new location is sent, it replaces the previously-stored location.

Find my device. The Find my device feature allows an administrator of a Windows portable device to find the location of that device from account.microsoft.com/devices. To enable Find my device, an administrator needs to be signed in with a Microsoft account and have the location setting enabled. This feature will work even if other users have denied access to location for all their apps. When the administrator attempts to locate the device, users will see a notification in the notification area. Learn more about Find my device in Windows 10.

Windows motion sensing. Windows devices with motion activity detection can collect motion activity. This data can enable features such as a pedometer to count the number of steps you take, so a fitness application can estimate how many calories you burn. This data and history is stored on your device and can be accessed by applications you give permission to access and use that data.

Recording. Some Windows devices have a recording feature that allows you to capture audio and video clips of your activity on the device, including your communications with others. If you choose to record a session, the recording will be saved locally on your device. In some cases, you may have the option to transmit the recording to a Microsoft product or service that broadcasts the recording publicly. Important: You should understand your legal responsibilities before recording and/or transmitting any communication. This includes whether you need to get consent from all parties to the communication in advance. Microsoft is not responsible for how you use recording features or your recordings.

Device encryption. Device encryption helps protect the data stored on your device by encrypting it using BitLocker Drive Encryption technology. When device encryption is on, Windows automatically encrypts the drive Windows is installed on and generates a recovery key. The BitLocker recovery key for your personal device is automatically backed up online in your personal Microsoft OneDrive account. Microsoft doesn't use your individual recovery keys for any purpose.

Malicious Software Removal Tool. The Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) runs on your device at least once per month as part of Windows Update. MSRT checks devices for infections by specific, prevalent malicious software ("malware") and helps remove any infections found. When the MSRT runs, it will remove the malware listed on the Microsoft Support website if the malware is on your device. During a malware check, a report will be sent to Microsoft with specific data about malware detected, errors, and other data about your device. If you do not want MSRT to send this data to Microsoft, you can disable MSRT's reporting component.

Microsoft Family. Parents can use Microsoft Family to understand and set boundaries on how their child is using their device. There are many features available to Family members, so please carefully review the information provided when you create or join a Family. When Family activity reporting is turned on for a child, Microsoft will collect details about how the child uses their device and provide parents with reports of that child's activities. Activity reports are routinely deleted from Microsoft servers after a short period of time.

Microsoft Defender SmartScreen. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen helps protect you when using our services by checking downloaded files and web content for malicious software, potentially unsafe web content, and other threats to you or your device. When checking a file, data about that file is sent to Microsoft, including the file name, a hash of the file's contents, the download location, and the file's digital certificates. If Microsoft Defender SmartScreen identifies the file as unknown or potentially unsafe, you will see a warning prior to opening the file. When checking web content, data about the content and your device is sent to Microsoft, including the full web address of the content. If Microsoft Defender SmartScreen detects that content is potentially unsafe, you will see a warning in place of the content. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen can be turned on or off in Settings.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus. Microsoft Defender Antivirus looks for malware and other unwanted software, potentially unwanted apps, and other malicious content on your device. Microsoft Defender Antivirus is automatically turned on to help protect your device if no other antimalware software is actively protecting your device. If Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned on, it will monitor the security status of your device. When Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned on, or is running because Limited Periodic Scanning is enabled, it will automatically send reports to Microsoft that contain data about suspected malware and other unwanted software, potentially unwanted apps, and other malicious content, and it may also send files that could contain malicious content, such as malware or unknown files for further inspection. If a report is likely to contain personal data, the report is not sent automatically, and you'll be prompted before it is sent. You can configure Microsoft Defender Antivirus not to send reports and suspected malware to Microsoft.

Speech. Microsoft provides both a device-based speech recognition feature and a cloud-based (online) speech recognition service, in regions where Cortana is available. To learn more about what languages and regions speech currently supports, see Cortana’s regions and languages.

Turning on the online speech recognition setting lets you use Microsoft’s cloud-based speech recognition in Cortana, the Mixed Reality Portal, dictation in Windows from the software keyboard, supported Microsoft Store apps, and over time in other parts of Windows.

Turning on speech while setting up a HoloLens device or installing Windows Mixed Reality allows you to use your voice for commands, dictation, and app interactions. Both device-based speech recognition and online speech recognition settings will be enabled. With both settings enabled, while your headset is turned on the device will always be listening to your voice input and will send your voice data to Microsoft’s cloud-based speech recognition service.

When you use the Microsoft’s cloud-based speech recognition service, Microsoft collects and uses your voice recordings to create a text transcription of the spoken words in the voice data. The voice data is used in the aggregate to help improve our ability to correctly recognise all users’ speech.

You can use device-based speech recognition without sending your voice data to Microsoft. However, Microsoft’s cloud-based speech recognition service provides more accurate recognition than the device-based speech recognition. When the online speech recognition setting is turned off, speech services that don’t rely on the cloud and only use device-based recognition—like the Narrator app or the Windows Speech Recognition app—will still work.

If you’ve given permission in Cortana, we also collect additional information, like your name and nickname, your recent calendar events, and the names of the people in your appointments, information about your contacts including names and nicknames, names of your favorite places, apps you use, and information about your music preferences. This additional data enables us to better recognise people, events, places, and music when you dictate commands, messages, or documents.

You can turn off online speech recognition at any time. This will stop your voice data from being sent to Microsoft. If you are using a HoloLens or mixed reality headset, you can also turn off device-based speech recognition at any time. This will stop the device from listening for your voice input. To control the voice data Microsoft has associated with your Microsoft account, please visit the Microsoft privacy dashboard. When you turn off the online speech recognition setting, any voice data collected while you were not signed in with a Microsoft account will be disassociated from your device. Learn more about the online speech recognition in Windows 10.

Voice Activation. Windows provides supported apps with the ability to respond and take action based on voice keywords that are specific to that app—for example allowing Cortana to listen and respond to “Hey Cortana.”

 If you’ve given permission for an app to listen for voice keywords, Windows 10 will be actively listening to the microphone for these keywords. Once a keyword is recognised, the app will have access to your voice recording, can process the recording, take action, and respond, such as with a spoken answer. The app may send the voice recording to its own services in the cloud to process the commands. Each app should ask you for permission before accessing voice recordings.

Allowing Cortana to use voice activation and respond to “Hey Cortana” means your voice data will be collected and used in the aggregate to help improve our ability to correctly recognise all users’ speech. For more information about Cortana’s features and how to manage them, see Cortana and privacy. Microsoft does not collect voice recordings on behalf of any third-party apps for which you have allowed voice activation.

Additionally, voice activation can be enabled when the device is locked. If enabled, the relevant app will continue listening to the microphone for voice keywords when you have locked your device and can activate for anyone who speaks near the device. When the device is locked, the app will have access to the same set of capabilities and information as when the device is unlocked.

You can turn off voice activation at any time. Learn more about voice activation in Windows 10 .

Even when you’ve turned off voice activation, some third-party desktop apps and services could still be listening to the microphone and collect your voice input. Learn more about third-party desktop apps and how they may still be able to access your microphone even with these settings turned off .

Inking & Typing Personalisation. Your typed and hand-written words are collected to provide you with: a personal dictionary, better character recognition to help you type and write on your device, and text suggestions that appear as you type or write. If you sync your Windows device settings to other Windows devices, your local user dictionary will be stored in your personal OneDrive for the purpose of enabling sharing of your dictionary with your other Windows devices. Learn more about sync settings.

You can turn off Inking & typing personalisation at any time. This will delete data stored on your device, such as your local user dictionary. Learn more about inking & typing personalisation in Windows 10.

When you sign in to Windows with a Microsoft account, Windows syncs some of your settings and data with Microsoft servers to make it easier to have personalised experiences across multiple devices. After you've signed in to one or more devices with a Microsoft account, when you sign in to another with the same Microsoft account for the first time, Windows will download and apply the settings and data you choose to sync from your other devices. Settings you choose to sync will automatically update on Microsoft servers and your other devices as you use them.

Some of the settings that are synced include:

• Apps you've installed from the Microsoft Store
• Language preferences
• Ease of Access preferences
• Personalisation settings such as your account picture, background, and mouse settings
• Settings for Microsoft Store apps
• Spell-checker dictionaries, input method editor (IME) dictionaries, and personal dictionaries
• Internet Explorer browser history, favourites, and websites you have open
• Saved app, website, mobile hotspot, and Wi-Fi network names and passwords

You can choose whether to sync your settings, and control what is synced, by going to Start > Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings. Some apps have their own, separate sync controls. If you sign in to Windows with a work account and you choose to connect that account to your personal Microsoft account, Windows will ask which settings you want to sync before connecting your Microsoft account.

Update Services for Windows includes Windows Update and Microsoft Update. Windows Update is a service that provides you with software updates for Windows software and other supporting software, such as drivers and firmware supplied by device manufacturers. Microsoft Update is a service that provides you with software updates for other Microsoft software such as Office.

Windows Update automatically downloads Windows software updates to your device. You can configure Windows Update to automatically install these updates as they become available (recommended) or have Windows notify you when a restart is required to finish installing updates. Apps available through the Microsoft Store are automatically updated through the Microsoft Store, as described in the Microsoft Store section of this privacy statement.

This section applies to legacy versions of Microsoft Edge (versions 44 and below). See the Microsoft Edge section of the Privacy Statement for information about non-legacy versions of Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Edge is the default web browser for Windows. Internet Explorer, the legacy browser from Microsoft, is also available in Windows. Whenever you use a web browser to access the internet, data about your device ("standard device data") is sent to the websites you visit and online services you use. Standard device data includes your device's IP address, browser type and language, access times, and referring website addresses. This data might be logged on those websites' web servers. Which data is logged and how that data is used depends on the privacy practises of the websites you visit and web services you use. Additionally, Microsoft Edge sends a unique browser ID to certain websites to enable us to develop aggregate data used to improve browser features and services.

Additionally, data about how you use your browser, such as your browsing history, web form data, temporary internet files, and cookies, is stored on your device. You can delete this data from your device using Delete Browsing History.

Microsoft Edge allows you to capture and save content on your device, such as:

• Web note. Allows you to create ink and text annotations on the webpages you visit, and clip, save, or share them.
• Active reading. Allows you to create and manage reading lists, including websites or documents.
• Hub. Allows you to easily manage your reading lists, favourites, downloads, and history all in one area.
• Website Pin to Taskbar. which allows you to pin your favorite websites to the Windows taskbar. Websites will be able to see which of their webpages you have pinned, so they can provide you a notification badge letting you know there is something new for you to check out on their websites.

Some Microsoft browser information saved on your device will be synced across other devices when you sign in with your Microsoft account. For instance, in Internet Explorer, this information includes your browsing history and favourites; and in Microsoft Edge, it includes your favourites, reading lists, autofill form entries (such as your name, address, and phone number), and may include data for extensions that you have installed. As an example, if you sync your Microsoft Edge reading list across devices, copies of the content you choose to save to your reading list will be sent to each synced device for later viewing. You can disable syncing in Internet Explorer by going to Start > Settings > Accounts > Sync your settings. (For more information, see the Sync settings section of this privacy statement.) You can also disable syncing of Microsoft Edge browser information by turning off the sync option in Microsoft Edge Settings.

Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer use your search queries and browsing history to provide you with faster browsing and more relevant search results. These features include:

• Search suggestions in Internet Explorer automatically sends the information you type into the browser address bar to your default search provider (such as Bing) to offer search recommendations as you type each character.
• Search and site suggestions in Microsoft Edge automatically sends the information you type into the browser address bar to Bing (even if you have selected another default search provider) to offer search recommendations as you type each character.

You can turn off these features at any time. In order to provide search results, Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer send your search queries, standard device information, and location (if you have location enabled) to your default search provider. If Bing is your default search provider, we use this data as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement.

Cortana can assist you with your web browsing in Microsoft Edge with features such as Ask Cortana. You can disable Cortana assistance in Microsoft Edge at any time in Microsoft Edge Settings. To learn more about how Cortana uses data and how you can control that, go to the Cortana section of this privacy statement.

A number of Microsoft apps are included with Windows and others are available in Microsoft Store. Some of those apps include:

Maps app. The Maps app provides location-based services and uses Bing services to process your searches within the Maps app. When the Maps app has access to your location, and you have enabled location-based services in Windows, when you use the “@” key to initiate a search in supported text boxes in Windows apps, Bing services collects the text you type after the “@” key to provide location-based suggestions. To learn more about these Bing-powered experiences, see the Bing section of this privacy statement. When the Maps app has access to your location, even when the app is not in use, Microsoft may collect de-identified location data from your device to improve Microsoft services. You can disable the Maps app's access to your location by turning off the location service or turning off the Maps app's access to the location service.

You can keep track of your favorite places and recent map searches in the Maps app. Your favorite places and search history will be included as search suggestions. If you're signed in with your Microsoft account, your favorite places, search history, and certain app settings will be synced across other devices and services (for example, Cortana). For more information, see the Sync settings section of this privacy statement.

Camera and Photo apps. If you allow the Camera app to use your location, location data is embedded in the photos you take with your device. Other descriptive data, such as camera model and the date that the picture was taken, is also embedded in photos and videos. If you choose to share a photo or video, any embedded data will be accessible to the people and services you share with. You can disable the Camera app's access to your location by turning off all access to the location service in your device's Settings menu or turning off the Camera app's access to the location service.

The Photos app presents different tabs to group photos and videos by time, location, tags, and faces. The Collection tab displays photos and videos according to their time. The Album tab helps users organise their photos and videos by location and common tags. The People tab organises photos and videos by faces.

When you import photos and videos that include location attributes, the Photos app can group your photos and videos by time and location. To do so, the Photos app sends location data in your photos and videos to Microsoft to determine the names of locations, such as "Seattle, Washington." When you sign-in to the Photos app using your Microsoft account, and you have configured your system to synchronise your local device file system with OneDrive, Photos will use object detection to tag and sort your photos and videos into Albums.

If you enable the “People” toggle on Photos Settings page, the app uses both face detection and face recognition technologies to organise your private collection into groups. Face detection is used to identify photos and videos containing faces. Face recognition groups photos and videos containing a given person’s face.

You can choose to enable or disable grouping photos and videos by faces. If this feature is enabled, Photos’ background processes scan your photo and video collections stored on your device for facial groupings and present the results within Photos’ People tab on your device. Facial groupings are not accessible beyond the context of the device file system and are protected by the same security measures associated with all other content and data associated with a given Windows account. By enabling the People setting feature in Photos app, you consent to the use of facial grouping technology to organise your photo and video collection.

From the People tab, you can then choose to link facial groupings with your locally stored Contacts via the People Picker. You, and not Microsoft, are responsible for obtaining consent to link Contacts with your facial groupings, and you represent that you have obtained all necessary consents to link your photos and videos into groups.

Your groupings will be stored on your device for as long as you elect to keep the groupings or the photos or videos. Users will be prompted to reassert their consent after three years of non-interaction with the Photos app. At any time, users can turn off the People toggle under the Settings tab.

People app. The People app lets you see and interact with all your contacts in one place. When you add an account to the People app, your contacts from your account will be automatically added to the People app. You can add other accounts to the People app, including your social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter) and email accounts. When you add an account, we tell you what data the People app can import or sync with the particular service and let you choose what you want to add. Other apps you install may also sync data to the People app, including providing additional details to existing contacts. When you view a contact in the People app, information about your recent interactions with the contact (such as emails and calendar events, including from apps that the People app syncs data from) will be retrieved and displayed to you. You can remove an account from the People app at any time.

Email and Calendar app. The Email and Calendar app allows you to connect all your email, calendars, and files in one place, including those from third-party email and file storage providers. The app provides location-based services, such as weather information in your calendar, but you can disable the app’s use of your location. When you add an account to the Email and Calendar app, your email, calendar items, files, contacts, and other settings from your account will automatically sync to your device and to Microsoft servers. At any time, you can remove an account or make changes to the data that’s synced from your account. To configure an account, you must provide the app with the account credentials (such as username and password), which will be sent over the internet to the third-party provider’s server. The app will first attempt to use a secure (SSL) connection to configure your account but will send this information unencrypted if your email provider does not support SSL. If you add an account provided by an organisation (such as a company email address), the owner of the organisational domain can implement certain policies and controls (for example, multi-factor authentication or the ability to remotely wipe data from your device) that may affect your use of the app.

Messaging app. When you sign in with a Microsoft account on your device, you can choose to back up your information, which will sync your SMS and MMS messages and store them in your Microsoft account. This allows you to retrieve the messages if you lose or change phones. After your initial device set-up, you can manage your messaging settings at any time. Turning off your SMS/MMS back up will not delete messages that have been previously backed up to your Microsoft account. To delete such messages, you must first delete them from your device prior to turning off back up. If you allow the Messaging app to use your location, you can attach a link to your current location to an outgoing message. Location information will be collected by Microsoft as described in the Windows Location services section of this privacy statement.

Narrator. Narrator is a screen-reading app that helps you use Windows without a screen. Narrator offers intelligent image and page title description and web page summaries when you encounter undescribed images and ambiguous links.

When you choose to get an image description by pressing Narrator + Ctrl + D, the image will be sent to Microsoft to perform analysis of the image and generate a description. Images are used only to generate the description and are not stored by Microsoft.

When you choose to get page title descriptions by pressing Narrator + Ctrl + D, the URL of the site you are visiting will be sent to Microsoft to generate the page title description and to provide and improve Microsoft services, such as Bing services as described in the Bing section above.

When you choose to get a list of popular links for a web page by pressing Narrator + double press of S, the URL of the site you are visiting will be sent to Microsoft to generate the summary of popular links and to provide and improve Microsoft services, such as Bing.

You can disable these features at any time by going to Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator > Get image descriptions, page titles and popular links.

You can also send feedback about Narrator to help Microsoft diagnose and resolve problems with Narrator and improve Microsoft products and services, such as Windows. Verbal feedback can be submitted at any time in Narrator by using Narrator Key + Alt + F. When you use this command, the Feedback Hub app will launch, giving you the opportunity to submit verbal feedback. If you enable the setting “Help Make Narrator Better” in Settings > Ease of Access > Narrator and submit verbal feedback through Feedback Hub, recent device and usage data, including event trace log (ETL) data, will be submitted along with your verbal feedback to improve Microsoft products and services, such as Windows.

Windows Media Player allows you to play CDs, DVDs, and other digital content (such as WMA and MP3 files), rip CDs, and manage your media library. To enrich your experience when you play content in your library, Windows Media player displays related media information, such as album title, song titles, album art, artist, and composer. To augment your media information, Windows Media player will send a request to Microsoft which contains standard computer information, an identifier for the media content, and the media information already contained in your Windows Media Player library (including information you may have edited or entered yourself) so that Microsoft can recognise the track and then return additional information that is available.

Windows Media Player also allows you to play back content that is streamed to you over a network. To provide this service, it is necessary for Windows Media Player to communicate with a streaming media server. These servers are typically operated by non-Microsoft content providers. During playback of streaming media, Windows Media Player will send a log to the streaming media server or other web server(s) if the streaming media server requests it. The log includes such details as: connection time, IP address, operating system version, Windows Media Player version, Player identification number (Player ID), date, and protocol. To protect your privacy, Windows Media Player defaults to sending a Player ID that is different for each session.

Windows Hello provides instant access to your devices through biometric authentication. If you turn it on, Windows Hello uses your face, fingerprint, or iris to identify you based on a set of unique points or features that are extracted from the image and stored on your device as a template—but it does not store the actual image of your face, fingerprint, or iris. Biometric verification data that's used when you sign in doesn't leave your device. You can delete your biometric verification data from within Settings.

Windows Search lets you search your stuff and the web from one place. If you choose to use Windows Search to search "your stuff," it will provide results for items on your personal OneDrive, your OneDrive for Business if so enabled, other cloud storage providers to the extent supported by those third-party providers, and on your device. If you choose to use Windows Search to search the web, or get search suggestions with Windows Search, your search results will be powered by Bing and we will use your search query as described in the Bing section of this privacy statement. Learn more about search in Windows 10

The Your Phone app lets you link your Android phone with your Windows device, enabling a variety of cross-device experiences. You can use Your Phone to see recent photos from your Android phone on your Windows device; make and receive calls from your Android phone on your Windows device; view and send text messages from your Windows device; view, dismiss, or perform other actions to your Android phone notifications from your Windows device; and share your phone screen on your Windows device through Your Phone’s mirroring function.

To use Your Phone, the Your Phone app must be installed on your Windows device and the Your Phone Companion app must be installed on your Android phone. Upon launching the Your Phone app on your Windows device, you will be prompted to provide your device number. We use this device number solely to send you a link with information about downloading the Your Phone Companion app.

To use Your Phone, you must log into your Microsoft account on the Your Phone app on your Windows device and on the Your Phone Companion app on your Android phone. Your Android phone must be connected to Wi-Fi and your Windows device must be connected to the internet and permit Your Phone to run in the background. To use Your Phone’s mirroring function, your Android phone must also have Bluetooth enabled. Your Phone also requires your Windows device to be set up with Windows Hello, as an additional security measure.

As part of providing Your Phone’s features to you, Microsoft collects performance, usage, and device data that includes, for example, the hardware capabilities of your device and Windows device, the number and duration of your sessions on Your Phone, and the amount of time you spent during setup.

You can unlink your Android phone from your Windows device at any time by logging in with your Microsoft account at accounts.microsoft.com/devices and updating the Settings on your Android phone. For detailed information, see our support page.

Text Messages. Your Phone allows you to view text messages delivered to your Android phone on your Windows device and send text messages from your Windows device. Only text messages received and sent within the last 30 days are visible on your Windows device. These text messages are temporarily stored on your Windows device. We never store your text messages on our servers or change or delete any text messages on your Android phone. You can see messages sent via SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) but not messages sent via RCS (Rich Communication Services). To provide this functionality, Your Phone accesses the content of your text messages and the contact information of the individuals or businesses from whom you are receiving or sending text messages.

Calls. Your Phone allows you to make and receive calls from your Android phone on your Windows device. Through Your Phone, you can also view your recent calls on your Windows device. To activate this feature, you must enable certain permissions on both your Windows device and Android phone, such as call logs access and permission to make phone calls from your PC. These permissions can be revoked at any time under the Your Phone Settings page on your Windows device and your Android phone's settings. Only calls received and dialled within the last 30 days are visible under call logs on your Windows device. These call details are temporarily stored on your Windows device. We do not change or delete your call history on your Android phone.

Photos. Your Phone allows you to copy, share or edit photos from your Android phone on your Windows device. Only a limited number of your most recent photos from the Camera Roll and Screenshots folders on your Android phone will be visible on your Windows device at any given time. These photos are temporarily stored on your Windows device and as you take more photos on your Android phone, we remove the temporary copies of the older photos from your Windows device. We never store your photos on our servers or change or delete any photos on your Android phone.

Notifications. Your Phone allows you to view your Android phone’s notifications on your Windows device. Through Your Phone, you can read and dismiss your Android phone’s notifications from your Windows device or perform other actions related to the notifications. To activate this Your Phone feature, you must enable certain permissions, such as sync notifications, on both your Windows device and Android phone. These permissions can be revoked at any time under the Your Phone Settings page on your Windows device and your Android phone’s settings. For detailed information, see our support page.

Mirroring. Your Phone allows you to view your Android phone’s screen on your Windows device. Your Android phone screen will be visible on your Windows device as a pixel stream and any audio that you enable on your Android phone screen while it is linked to your Windows device through Your Phone will play through your Android phone.

Text-to-voice. Your Phone features include accessibility functionality such as text-to-voice. You can activate a text-to-voice feature, which allows you to hear the contents of a text message or notification as audio. If you activate this feature, your text messages and notifications will be read out loud as they are received.

Microsoft Store is an online service, accessible via PC, the Xbox Console and the Xbox App, that allows you to browse, download, purchase, rate, and review applications and other digital content. It includes:

• Apps and content for Windows devices such as phones, PCs, and tablets.
• Games, subscriptions and other apps for Xbox consoles and other devices.
• Products and apps for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, Access, and Project (2013 versions or later).

We collect data about how you access and use Microsoft Store; the products you've viewed, purchased, or installed; the preferences you set for viewing apps in Microsoft Store; and any ratings, reviews, or problem reports you submit. Your Microsoft account is associated with your ratings and reviews; and if you write a review, the name and picture from your Microsoft account will be published with your review.

Permission for Microsoft Store apps. Many apps you install from the Microsoft Store are designed to take advantage of specific hardware and software features of your device. An app's use of certain hardware and software features may give the app or its related service access to your data. For example, a photo editing app might access your device's camera to let you take a new photo or access photos or videos stored on your device for editing, and a restaurant guide might use your location to provide nearby recommendations. Information about the features that an app uses is provided on the app's product description page in Microsoft Store. Many of the features that Microsoft Store apps use can be turned on or off through your device’s privacy settings. In Windows, in many cases, you can choose which apps can use a particular feature. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy, select the feature (for example, Calendar), and then select which app permissions are on or off. The lists of apps in Windows privacy settings that can use hardware and software features will not include "Classic Windows" applications, and these applications are not affected by these settings.

App updates. Unless you have turned off automatic app updates in the relevant Microsoft Store settings, Microsoft Store will automatically check for, download, and install app updates to ensure that you have the latest versions. Updated apps might use different Windows hardware and software features from the previous versions, which could give them access to different data on your device. You will be prompted for consent if an updated app accesses certain features, such as location. You can also review the hardware and software features an app uses by viewing its product description page in Microsoft Store.

Each app's use of your data collected through any of these features is subject to the app developer's privacy policies. If an app available through Microsoft Store collects and uses any of your personal data, the app developer is required to provide a privacy policy, and a link to the privacy policy is available on the app's product description page in Microsoft Store.

Sideloaded apps and developer mode. Developer features such as the "developer mode" setting are intended for development use only. If you enable developer features, your device may become unreliable or unusable, and expose you to security risks. Downloading or otherwise acquiring apps from sources other than Microsoft Store, also known as "sideloading" apps, may make your device and personal data more vulnerable to attack or unexpected use by apps. Windows policies, notifications, permissions, and other features intended to help protect your privacy when apps access your data may not function as described in this statement for sideloaded apps or when developer features are enabled.

Xbox consoles are hardware devices that you can use to access and play games, movies, music, and other forms of digital entertainment. Xbox Live is the online gaming and entertainment service from Microsoft that enables you to find content and connect with friends, on Xbox Live and other gaming and social networks, from a variety of devices, including Xbox consoles, PCs and mobile devices.

When you access an Xbox experience from a device, we assign you a unique device identifier. When your Xbox console is connected to the internet, we identify which console and which version of the Xbox operating system you are currently using. When you sign up for Xbox Live, we assign an Xbox user ID and a gamertag (a nickname) to identify you. Data we collect about your use of Xbox Live is stored with these unique identifier(s).

We collect data about your use of the Xbox console, Xbox App, and Xbox Live such as:

• When you sign in and sign out of Xbox Live, the games you play and apps you use, your game progress and play statistics, the purchases you make, and content you obtain.
• Performance data about Xbox consoles, Xbox App and Xbox Live, connected devices, and your network connection, including software or hardware errors.
• Content you add, upload, or share through Xbox Live, including text, images and video from within games or apps.
• Social activity, including your interactions with other gamers, and your connections, including friends and followers, on Xbox Live.
• If you use the Xbox console with Kinect, data about how you use Kinect. See below for more information about Kinect data collection.
• If you use the Xbox TV app, we collect TV viewing history from your console in a way that doesn't identify you or others.

With your consent, we will collect information about videos you purchase or view through third-party apps on your Xbox console. If you use an Xbox console that includes a storage device (hard drive or memory unit), and if you play offline or have never signed in to Xbox Live on the console, usage data will be stored on the storage device and sent to Microsoft the next time you sign in.

Microsoft uses the data we collect from your Xbox console, Xbox App, and Xbox Live to provide you with experiences, which includes securing the services and carrying out the transactions you request. In order to run our subscription services such as Game Pass, we collect certain data such as device information and game play statistics such as number of unique users and playtime per game.

We also use the data to improve and develop our products. As part of the Xbox Live service, Microsoft will also use data about you and your use of Xbox Live (such as the games you play, apps you use, subscriptions you have, purchases you make, and content you obtain) to provide you with a personalised, highly curated gaming and entertainment experience. This includes connecting you to games, content, and services, as well as presenting you with offers, discounts, and recommendations.

Xbox Live data viewable by other users. Your gamertag, game and play statistics, achievements, presence (whether you're currently signed in to Xbox Live), content you share, and other data about your activity on Xbox Live can be seen by other users on Xbox Live, users of third-party services you have linked your profile to, or on other properties associated with Xbox Live (including those of partner companies). For example, your gamertag and scores that show on game leaderboards are considered public and can't be hidden. For other data, like presence, you can adjust your privacy settings on the console or at xbox.com to limit or block sharing with the public or even with friends.

Xbox Live data shared with game or app publishers. When you use an Xbox Live-enabled game or any network-connected app through your Xbox console, PC or mobile device, the publisher for that game or app has access to data about your usage of Xbox Live and its game or app so it may deliver and improve its product and provide support. This data may include your Xbox user ID and gamertag, limited account information such as country and age range, data about your in game communications, enforcement activity, game-play sessions (for example, moves made in-game, types of vehicles used in-game), your presence on Xbox Live, the time you spend playing the game or app, rankings, statistics, gamer profiles, avatars or gamerpics, friends lists, activity feed, club memberships, and content that you may create or submit within the game or app. Third-party game and app publishers are independent controllers of this data and its use is subject to their privacy policies. You should carefully review their policies to determine how they will use the data. For example, publishers may choose to disclose or display game data (such as on leaderboards) through their own services. To learn more about our data-sharing practises with third-party publishers, see Data Sharing with Games and Apps.

Linking your Xbox Live profile to non-Microsoft accounts. Some games or apps available through Xbox Live, and some social features of Xbox Live, are delivered by third-party publishers or partner companies, which may require that you create a non-Microsoft account and sign-in credentials to use that game, app, or feature. If you choose to link your Xbox Live profile with an account of a third-party publisher or partner company, we will share with them limited account and profile information but will not include any credit card or other payment information.

Kinect. The Kinect sensor is a combination of camera, microphone, and infrared sensor that can enable motions and voice to be used to control gameplay and to navigate through the service. For example:

• If you choose, the camera can be used to sign you in to the service automatically using facial recognition. To do this, it takes an image of your face and measures distances between key points to create and store a numeric value that represents only you. This data stays on the console and is not shared with anyone, and you can choose to delete this data from your console at any time.
• For gameplay, Kinect will map distances between your body's joints to create a stick figure representation of you that helps Kinect enable gameplay. If you are playing online, we collect those numeric values to enable and improve gameplay and the gaming experience. Kinect also detects specific hand gestures intended to do simple system interactions (such as menu navigation, pan/zoom, and scroll).
• For some fitness games, Xbox can use the Kinect sensor to estimate your exercise data, including estimates such as your heart rate during a certain activity or the number of calories burnt during a workout.
• Kinect's microphones enable voice chat between players during gameplay. They also enable voice commands for control of the console, game, or app, or to enter search terms. See below for additional details on voice data collection.
• The Kinect sensor can also be used for audio and video communications through services such as Skype.

To learn more about Kinect, for Xbox 360, see Kinect and Xbox 360 privacy. For Xbox One, see Kinect and Xbox One Privacy.

Captioning. During Xbox Live real-time chat, players may activate a voice-to-text feature, which allows the user to view the audio in-game chat as text. If a user activates this feature, the other players will have no additional notice. Microsoft uses this data to provide captioning of chat for users who need it as well as the other purposes described in this privacy statement.

Communications monitoring. Xbox Live includes communications features such as text and voice direct messaging and real-time text and voice chat. In order to help provide a safe gaming environment and enforce the Microsoft Code of Conduct, we collect and monitor direct messaging, and text communications in live-hosted multiplayer gameplay sessions and other features of the service, such as activity feeds and clubs.

Voice data for service improvement. We collect and use for service improvement voice search requests or samples of voice commands occurring while using Kinect or Cortana. This data is stored separately from your Xbox profile.

GameDVR. Any player in a multiplayer game session can use GameDVR to record their view of the gameplay taking place in that session. The recording can capture your in-game character and gamertag in the game clips created by other players in the gameplay session. Note that if a player uses GameDVR on a PC, audio chat may also be captured in a game clip.

Children and online safety. If you have children or teenagers who use Xbox Live, you can set up child and teen profiles for them. Children and teens under 18 cannot create a profile on Xbox Live without parental consent. Adults in the family can change consent choices and online safety settings for child and teen profiles on xbox.com.

Microsoft Store is an online service, accessible via PC, the Xbox Console and the Xbox App, that allows you to browse, download, purchase, rate, and review applications and other digital content. It includes:

• Apps and content for Windows devices such as phones, PCs, and tablets.
• Games, subscriptions and other apps for Xbox consoles and other devices.
• Products and apps for Office, SharePoint, Exchange, Access, and Project (2013 versions or later).

We collect data about how you access and use Microsoft Store; the products you've viewed, purchased, or installed; the preferences you set for viewing apps in Microsoft Store; and any ratings, reviews, or problem reports you submit. Your Microsoft account is associated with your ratings and reviews; and if you write a review, the name and picture from your Microsoft account will be published with your review.

Permission for Microsoft Store apps. Many apps you install from the Microsoft Store are designed to take advantage of specific hardware and software features of your device. An app's use of certain hardware and software features may give the app or its related service access to your data. For example, a photo editing app might access your device's camera to let you take a new photo or access photos or videos stored on your device for editing, and a restaurant guide might use your location to provide nearby recommendations. Information about the features that an app uses is provided on the app's product description page in Microsoft Store. Many of the features that Microsoft Store apps use can be turned on or off through your device’s privacy settings. In Windows, in many cases, you can choose which apps can use a particular feature. Go to Start > Settings > Privacy, select the feature (for example, Calendar), and then select which app permissions are on or off. The lists of apps in Windows privacy settings that can use hardware and software features will not include "Classic Windows" applications, and these applications are not affected by these settings.

App updates. Unless you have turned off automatic app updates in the relevant Microsoft Store settings, Microsoft Store will automatically check for, download, and install app updates to ensure that you have the latest versions. Updated apps might use different Windows hardware and software features from the previous versions, which could give them access to different data on your device. You will be prompted for consent if an updated app accesses certain features, such as location. You can also review the hardware and software features an app uses by viewing its product description page in Microsoft Store.

Each app's use of your data collected through any of these features is subject to the app developer's privacy policies. If an app available through Microsoft Store collects and uses any of your personal data, the app developer is required to provide a privacy policy, and a link to the privacy policy is available on the app's product description page in Microsoft Store.

Sideloaded apps and developer mode. Developer features such as the "developer mode" setting are intended for development use only. If you enable developer features, your device may become unreliable or unusable, and expose you to security risks. Downloading or otherwise acquiring apps from sources other than Microsoft Store, also known as "sideloading" apps, may make your device and personal data more vulnerable to attack or unexpected use by apps. Windows policies, notifications, permissions, and other features intended to help protect your privacy when apps access your data may not function as described in this statement for sideloaded apps or when developer features are enabled.

MSN services include websites and a suite of apps, including MSN News, Weather, Sports, and Money, and previous versions of the apps branded as Bing (together, "MSN Apps"). The MSN Apps are available on various platforms, including Windows, iOS, and Android. MSN services are also included within other Microsoft services, including the Microsoft Edge browser.

When you install MSN Apps, we collect data that tells us if the app was installed properly, the installation date, the app version, and other data about your device such as the operating system and browser. This data is collected on a regular basis to help us determine the number of MSN App users and identify performance issues associated with different app versions, operating systems, and browsers.

We also collect data about how you interact with MSN services, such as usage frequency and articles viewed, to provide you with relevant content. Some MSN services provide an enhanced experience when you sign in with your Microsoft account, including allowing you to customise your interests and favourites. You can manage personalisation through MSN and Bing settings, as well as through settings in other Microsoft services that include MSN services. We also use the data we collect to provide you with advertisements that may be of interest to you. You can opt out of interest-based advertising through the advertising links within MSN services, or by visiting the Microsoft opt-out page.

Previous versions of MSN Money allow you to access personal finance information from third-party financial institutions. MSN Money only displays this information and does not store it on our servers. Your sign-in credentials used to access your financial information from third parties are encrypted on your device and are not sent to Microsoft. These financial institutions, as well as any other third-party services you access through MSN services, are subject to their own terms and privacy policies.

Mixer is an interactive, social, public online service for live streaming videos, videogames, and related content. Mixer collects account data, the information you provide for your public profile, content (such as chat and streams), and device and service usage data to provide the service, including the third-party experiences you choose, improve our products, communicate with you, and show you advertising. Your interactions with the service and with other users on the service are public and viewable by anyone, including chatting, following and subscribing to channels, and interacting with streamers, users, videos, and games. Additionally, if you chat or stream content on the service, any personal information you include will be public and may be captured and shared by others. Note that Microsoft may review and reject any content you stream or store on the service for violations of the Mixer Rules of User Conduct.

Some of the apps and experiences on Mixer are provided by third-party developers. When you choose to use third-party apps or experiences: (i) your data is subject to that third party’s privacy policy; and (ii) with your consent, the third party developer will have access to information about you that is not part of your public profile, such as your settings, email address and age range.

Groove Music lets you easily play your music collection and make playlists. Microsoft Movies & TV allows you to play your video collection and rent or buy movies and TV episodes. These services were formerly offered as Xbox Music and Video.

To help you discover content that may interest you, Microsoft will collect data about what content you play, the length of play, and the rating you give it.

To enrich your experience when playing content, Groove Music and Movies & TV will display related information about the content you play and the content in your music and video libraries, such as the album title, cover art, song or video title, and other information, where available. To provide this information, Groove Music and Movies & TV send an information request to Microsoft containing standard device data, such as your device IP address, device software version, your regional and language settings, and an identifier for the content.

If you use Movies & TV to access content that has been protected with Microsoft Digital Rights Management (DRM), it may automatically request media usage rights from an online rights server and download and install DRM updates in order to let you play the content. See the DRM information in the Silverlight section of this privacy statement for more information.

Microsoft Silverlight helps you to access and enjoy rich content on the Web. Silverlight enables websites and services to store data on your device. Other Silverlight features involve connecting to Microsoft to obtain updates, or to Microsoft or third-party servers to play protected digital content.

Silverlight Configuration tool. You can make choices about these features in the Silverlight Configuration tool. To access the Silverlight Configuration tool, right click on content that is currently being displayed by Silverlight and select Silverlight. You can also run the Silverlight Configuration tool directly. In Windows, for example, you can access the tool by searching for "Microsoft Silverlight."

Silverlight application storage. Silverlight-based applications can store data files locally on your computer for a variety of purposes, including saving your customised settings, storing large files for graphically intensive features (such as games, maps, and images), and storing content that you create within certain applications. You can turn off or configure application storage in the Silverlight Configuration tool.

Silverlight updates. Silverlight will periodically check a Microsoft server for updates to provide you with the latest features and improvements. A small file containing information about the latest Silverlight version will be downloaded to your computer and compared to your currently installed version. If a newer version is available, it will be downloaded and installed on your computer. You can turn off or configure updates in the Silverlight Configuration tool.

Digital Rights Management. Silverlight uses Microsoft Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to help protect the rights of content owners. If you access DRM-protected content (such as music or video) with Silverlight, it will request media usage rights from a rights server on the Internet. In order to provide a seamless playback experience, you will not be prompted before Silverlight sends the request to the rights server. When requesting media usage rights, Silverlight will provide the rights server with an ID for the DRM-protected content file and basic data about your device, including data about the DRM components on your device such as their revision and security levels, and a unique identifier for your device.

DRM updates. In some cases, accessing DRM-protected content will require an update to Silverlight or to the DRM components on your device. When you attempt to play content that requires a DRM update, Silverlight will send a request to a Microsoft server containing basic data about your device, including information about the DRM components on your computer such as their revision and security levels, troubleshooting data, and a unique identifier for your device. The Microsoft server uses this identifier to return a unique DRM update for your device, which will then be installed by Silverlight. You can turn off or configure DRM component updates on the Playback tab in the Silverlight Configuration tool.

Windows Mixed Reality allows you to enable a virtual reality experience that immerses you in apps and games. Mixed Reality uses a compatible headset’s camera, microphone, and infrared sensors to enable motions and voice to be used to control gameplay and to navigate apps and games.

Microsoft collects diagnostic data to solve problems and to keep Mixed Reality running on Windows up to date, secure, and operating properly. Diagnostic data also helps us improve Mixed Reality and related Microsoft products and services depending on the diagnostic data settings you’ve chosen for your device. Learn more about Windows diagnostic data.

Mixed Reality also processes and collects data specifically related to the Mixed Reality experiences, such as:

• Mixed Reality maps distances between your body's joints to create a stick figure representation of you. If you are connected to the Internet, we collect those numeric values to enable and improve your experience.
• Mixed Reality detects specific hand gestures intended to perform simple system interactions (such as menu navigation, pan/zoom, and scroll). This data is processed on your PC and is not stored.
• The headset's microphones enable voice commands to control games, apps, or to enter search terms. Learn more about voice data collection.
• Windows Mixed Reality can also be used for audio and video communications through services such as Skype.