Microsoft sheds light on Surface Duo's privacy settings

Microsoft recently unveiled the Surface Duo for $1399 and the device is now available for purchase in the USA. Ahead of the sale of the device, Microsoft has shared more about Surface Duo’s privacy settings.

Surface Duo will come with Google’s apps like Play Store, Gmail, Maps and Google Assistant. Microsoft has clarified that it will collect data to improve the experience as well as improve its own apps like Your Phone. The company will offer Required diagnostic data and Optional diagnostic data as two options to the users.

The list of required data includes the following:

• Device properties such as the manufacturer, processor type, and memory attributes.
• Device settings and configurations, such as networking and peripherals data.
• Basic error reporting, such as whether updates were successfully installed.
• Reliability data about the health of the apps and services.
• Operating system version, configuration details, and updates installed.
• Apps and drivers installed on the device.

The list of optional diagnostic data includes the following:

• Additional data about the device, connectivity, and configuration, beyond that collected under Required diagnostic data.
• Status and logging information about the health of system components beyond that collected about the update and diagnostics systems under Required diagnostic data.
• App activity, such as which programs are running on a device and for how long, and how quickly they respond to input.
• Browser activity in Microsoft Edge, including browsing history and search terms.
• Enhanced error reporting, including the memory state of the device when a system or app crash occurs (which may unintentionally contain user content, such as parts of a file you were using when the problem occurred).
• Specific data items collected by Surface Duo diagnostics are subject to change to give Microsoft flexibility to collect the data needed for the purposes described. For example, to ensure Microsoft can troubleshoot the latest performance issue impacting users or update a Surface Duo device, Microsoft may need to collect data items that were not collected previously.

Microsoft has assured that regardless of what users choose, their data will remain secure and their device will operate normally.