An update to privacy documentation reveals that, as the app plans and delivers a wide range of potential new functionality, segments of users will use different versions to compare performance

The GOV.UK App is using A/B testing processes to assess the efficacy of potential new features or other changes to the platform.

This method of testing involves presenting different groups of users with different versions of an app or website and then comparing the results. The GOV.UK App launched nationwide in July, but remains in public beta mode – meaning significant development work is ongoing.

Many new features are planned for the near future, or are being considered for the longer-term, including the incorporation of GOV.UK Chat and Wallet platforms, as well  as the potential integration of local-government services.

As these features are explored and, in some cases, introduced, the app will make use of A/B testing – according to a newly published update to the program’s privacy notice, which sets out how the app’s operations collects and processes personal data.

A new paragraph has been added to the section of the notice dedicated to the ways in which government measures the use and performance of the app, and the data collected in doing so.

“We use A/B testing to improve the app,” it says. “This means making a change to the design or functionality of the app available to some users, and then measuring how well the change works before deciding whether to make it available to everyone.”

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The existing portions of that section of the notice add that the Government Digital Service – which developed the app – collects information concerning “the pages you visit within the app and how long you spend on each page, what you tap on while you’re on each page, [and] the terms you search for in the app… [and] errors that happen while you’re using the app”.

Other data gathered by GDS includes technical details of the devices and operating systems used.

“We store this information on your phone and then send it to Google Analytics and Amazon Web Services,” the notice adds. “We make sure that we cannot directly identify you from this data. We do this by removing any personal data from the titles or URLs of the pages you visit. We do not store your IP address. We will not combine analytics information with other data sets in a way that would directly identify who you are.”

The purpose of collecting this data is “to make sure the app is meeting the needs of its users, learn about how users use the app so that we can improve it, monitor the use of the app for security threats, [and] monitor the performance of the app to identify inefficiencies and errors”, according to GDS.