Gaming Apps & Privacy: Stealth mode engaged
Like a gamer grinding for hours on a level in order to mine the best loot, gaming apps are constantly optimizing their marketing tactics to persuade gamers to become repeat, paying customers. These mobile apps want higher customer lifetime values, lengthier play times, and repeat purchases. But they’re coming across a glitch: while gaming apps traditionally rely on data to fuel personalization, players are becoming increasingly hesitant to hand over the type of personal information that leads to retention.
Looking at the data from our 2025 In-app User Privacy Report, you can see that there’s been a lot of change in how consumers feel about giving their data to gaming apps, and what information they’re more willing (or unwilling) to share.
“What personal data, if any, are you willing to share with gaming apps? (Select all that apply.)”
| User data | 2024 | 2025 | pp difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| My DOB/age | 18.67% | 19.97% | 1.3 |
| My email address | 29.82% | 27.96% | -1.86 |
| My ethnicity | 15.87% | 16.82% | 0.95 |
| My gender | 25.02% | 27.48% | 2.46 |
| My health data | 4.80% | 6.90% | 2.1 |
| My mobile number | 15.72% | 13.79% | -1.93 |
| My name | 30.19% | 25.70% | -4.49 |
| My region | 14.85% | 18.04% | 3.19 |
| N/A – I’m not willing to share any personal data with this type of app/platform | 44.26% | 43.11% | -1.15 |
Source: 2025 In-app User Privacy Report, Verve
Identity data is a challenge
It looks like consumers are much less willing to give their names to gaming apps. The -4.49% decrease in willingness to share names between 2024 and 2025 is the largest change in sentiment. The two other decreases were mobile phone numbers (-1.93%) and email addresses (-1.86%), indicating that users are really less willing to share identity-specific data with gaming apps. They want to play the games, but not at the expense of giving up their identity.
Gaming is, after all, an escapist form of entertainment. For some players, climbing a leaderboard and leveling up may be their main identifier when immersed in a gaming world.
But age, gender, and region are fine
So what data points are users more willing to share with gaming apps?
The top three are: region (with a +3.19% increase), gender (+2.46%), and date of birth (+1.3%), which indicate that people are still willing to share some private information as long as they can stay mostly anonymous when they play.
Additionally, these three bits of data lead to better personalization – not just in the games they play, but also in the ad experiences that come alongside them.
How does age impact how mobile gamers feel about privacy?
Slicing into the data some more, we see some differences in the age demographics.
The youngest mobile gamers are the most reluctant
The youngest group (16-24 year-olds) appear to be the most reluctant to share any data with gaming apps thanks to a +6.87% growth in those who answered “N/A.” The most curious aspect of this is that the reluctance is mostly in UK youth. Within that same age group. American youngsters saw a 1.64% decrease in N/A answers (indicating more openness to sharing). But UK youth saw a massive 16.7% increase in N/A answers, showing that many more are possibly growing jaded with sharing their personal info.
Take note that this demographic is spending a lot of time online already. According to Emarketer, 61% of US Gen Alpha children spend two+ hours on their mobile devices every day. Plus, they’ve got the spending capability: 48% of Gen Alpha teens have over $1,000 in savings. It’s worth the effort to convert them into paying customers.
The eldest are the most open
On the opposite side, the eldest group (55+ year-olds) are more open to sharing any data. Their number of N/A answers decreased by -5.36% from the previous level in 2024, showing more openness to giving their private info in exchange for something valuable.
No one wants to share name or email
Across the board, every age group was more hesitant to share their name in 2025 compared to 2024. Most all age groups also felt their email addresses were off-limits to gaming apps – except for the 35-44 group that saw a tiny bump (+0.38%) in willingness.
Age and gender are OK to ask for from 25+
If you have to prioritize which data points to ask from your gaming app users, then you can’t go wrong with date of birth or gender – willingness to share both points increased for every age group except for the youngest batch of 16-24 year-olds.
How do data privacy preferences in mobile gaming differ across countries and genders?
When drilling into the data by gender, you see that in the UK, both men and women are less willing to share region and gender, compared to 2024’s baseline.
UK women had the largest decrease in willingness to share names (-2.18%) and mobile numbers (-2.04%).
UK men had the distinction of being the group with the largest decrease in N/A answers (-3.83%). And since N/A means “I’m not willing to share any personal data with this type of app/platform,” this means they’re more open to sharing any data with gaming apps.
US men had the largest increase in willingness to share health data and date of birth (both with a +3.52% increase from 2024).
US women, on the other hand, experienced a massive decrease in willingness to share names (-9.77%) which ties in with their growth in N/A answers (+3.57%), telling us that more and more American women are reluctant to share any data at all with gaming apps.
The game, going forward
Consumers want to play on gaming apps. And they want to do it anonymously. While they’re less willing to share identity-specific data such as names and mobile phone numbers, players are still open to sharing demographic data — such as age, gender, and region — which fuels better personalization without stripping away their ability to play incognito.
With this in mind, gaming apps have a clear way forward:
- Start slow. Don’t ask for too much data too soon. Let your players engage with the game without pressuring them to share data. Experiment with this preliminary waiting period
- Ask for the demographic info. Users are more willing to give it, so ask for it. But hold off on requesting identity information until they’re ready to make a purchase.
- Build trust with the youngest generation. Stay mindful of the 16-24 demographic, particularly in the UK. Their reluctance to share any data suggests that trust must be earned by experiencing gameplay value before any data request is even sent to them.
- Be transparent with data requests. Since consumers are becoming more protective of their privacy, gaming apps need to explain why they need user data. Whatever it is– whether it’s for better matchmaking or for curated rewards – communicate the benefit to the player clearly.
- Expand ID-less monetization. Monetize your userbase, even without IDs. Explore options like on-device cohorts and contextual.
Learn more about how 4,000+ consumers in both the US and UK view their privacy. Download our 2025 In-App User Privacy Report.