How to Read a Privacy Policy in 60 Seconds

Nobody reads privacy policies. A study by Lorrie Cranor estimated it would take 76 work days per year to read every privacy policy you encounter. They're long, dense, and written by lawyers to protect the company — not inform you.

But you don't need to read the whole thing. Here's a 60-second framework for spotting the red flags that actually matter.

The 5 things to search for

Open the privacy policy and use Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F) to search for these terms:

1. "Sell" or "share"

Search for sell, share, third party, or partner. You're looking for whether the company sells or shares your personal data with other companies. Many policies say "we do not sell your data" but then describe extensive "sharing" arrangements that are functionally identical.

2. "Retain" or "delete"

How long do they keep your data? Search for retain, retention, delete, or removal. The best policies specify exact timeframes. Red flag: "We retain data as long as necessary for our business purposes" — that means forever.

3. "Track" or "device"

Search for track, device, fingerprint, or identifier. This reveals whether the app follows you across other apps and websites. Cross-device tracking is one of the most invasive practices and often happens without users realizing it.

4. "Modify" or "change"

Search for modify, change, update, or amend. You want to know if the company can change the privacy policy without notifying you. The worst policies say something like "continued use constitutes acceptance of changes."

5. "Arbitration" or "waive"

Search for arbitration, waive, class action, or dispute. Many apps force you into binding arbitration, which means you give up your right to sue — even in a class action. This is increasingly common and often buried deep in the terms.

What the scores mean

If you find red flags in 1-2 of these areas, the app is about average. If you find them in 3 or more, you're looking at a genuinely invasive app.

Or skip the manual work entirely — search for any app on TLDR ToS and we'll show you exactly what we found, scored and categorized by severity.

One more thing

Privacy policies change. An app that scored well last year might have quietly expanded its data collection. That's why we re-crawl and re-analyze policies regularly, and flag apps whose scores have changed.

If you want to stay informed, watch specific apps to get notified when their privacy policies change.