Overview
- Apple updated the Apple Store app privacy policy on Wednesday to add a 'Virtual Shopping Assistant' section that describes how the chat feature will work and what data it may collect.
- The policy says the assistant will use account details, device identifiers, carrier information, chat content, and optional location data to tailor responses and save transcripts for in‑app review.
- Apple says it will de‑identify chat content before sharing it with unnamed "partners" to help generate conversational replies, a phrasing reporters say likely points to third‑party AI involvement rather than only in‑house models.
- Users will see saved chat transcripts inside the Apple Store app and can opt in via a new Chat Improvements setting to allow conversations to be used to improve the assistant.
- The move extends Apple's gradual rollouts of AI features in retail and support tools and could raise fresh privacy and oversight questions as the company tests the assistant in select regions before wider release.