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Xbox

Gaming

Source-backed from Microsoft Privacy Statement

108
reviewed findings
15
key findings
3
free to read here
2
verified controls

Privacy Snapshot

What the published policy covers, and how much we found under each. Tap one to read it.

  • Location 1 finding
  • Camera & Photos 5 findings
  • Microphone & Audio 4 findings
  • Messages 4 findings
  • Sensitive Data 5 findings
  • Tracking 10 findings
  • Advertising & Profiling 11 findings
  • Sharing 17 findings
  • Controls & Permissions 35 findings
  • Other 16 findings

3 findings, in full

The first 3 of this report’s 15 key findings, complete — claim, reasoning, and the policy’s own wording.

Controls & Permissions Privacy control available Xbox always collects required diagnostic data; you can control the optional kind

What this means

Products that collect diagnostic data always collect the required kind. Whether the optional kind is sent as well is something you can control.

Products that collect diagnostic data always collect required diagnostic data, but users can control whether to send optional diagnostic data.

Why this matters

It is the one collection switch on the console, and knowing which half it reaches is what makes it worth using.

What the policy says

Products that collect diagnostic data will always collect required diagnostic data, but you can control whether to send us optional diagnostic data.

From Microsoft Privacy Statement

Source captured on

What you can do

A verified privacy control can reduce this.

Plainlyst Premium shows where to find it, what it changes, what it doesn’t change, and what may stop working.

View in Privacy Tune-Up
Camera & Photos Kinect combines a camera, microphone and infrared sensor that can enable voice control

What this means

Kinect brings a camera, a microphone and an infrared sensor together, which can enable motion and voice control in titles that support it.

The Kinect sensor combines a camera, microphone, and infrared sensor that can enable motion and voice control for titles that support it.

Why this matters

Three sensors in one living-room device is worth recognizing, whichever games make use of them.

What the policy says

The Kinect sensor is a combination of camera, microphone, and infrared sensor that can enable motions and voice to be used to control gameplay for titles that support it. Learn more about Kinect at XBOX Kinect and Privacy .

From Microsoft Privacy Statement

Source captured on

Sharing Microsoft purchases contact information from data brokers to supplement its data

What this means

Contact information bought from data brokers is used to add to what Microsoft already collects about you.

Microsoft purchases contact information from data brokers to supplement the data it collects.

Why this matters

Buying data means a company can know things about you that you never gave it.

What the policy says

Data brokers from which we purchase demographic data and contact information to supplement the data we collect.

From Microsoft Privacy Statement

Source captured on

12 more key findings a free account opens, by topic

  • Advertising & Profiling 2
  • Messages 2
  • Microphone & Audio 2
  • Sharing 2
  • Camera & Photos 1
  • Controls & Permissions 1
  • Sensitive Data 1
  • Tracking 1

Create a free account to read all 15

And every key finding for every company you use, with your companies saved and a dashboard of what is worth seeing across them, plus your Privacy Tune-Up. An email and a password — no card.

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Unlock the complete Xbox report

A free account opens all 15 key findings. 93 additional reviewed findings are available in the complete report.

  • Location 1 more
  • Camera & Photos 3 more
  • Microphone & Audio 2 more
  • Messages 2 more
  • Sensitive Data 4 more
  • Tracking 9 more
  • Advertising & Profiling 9 more
  • Sharing 14 more
  • Controls & Permissions 33 more
  • Other 16 more

  • Complete report

    93 additional reviewed findings, each shown with the policy wording behind it, like the 15 above.

  • Privacy Tune-Up

    2 verified privacy controls, 1 of them high-impact — where each one is, what it changes, and what may stop working.

  • Stay protectedPlanned

    Told when the policy changes.

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Plainlyst simplifies selected disclosures from privacy policies. It does not claim to capture every statement or practice in a policy, and it is not legal advice.

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Operated by JC RESERVE LLC

james@plainlysthq.com

Official sources only. Every finding quotes the company’s own policy, and every record names the document behind it. We do not grade anybody.