What is the difference between Core and Consumer Google Apps?

UC Berkeley offers two types of Google Apps to campus users: Google Core and Google Consumer.

Google Core Apps

Google Core Apps include: bMail, bCal, bDrive, contacts, and talk. These apps are offered to current students, faculty, staff, and certain affiliates, free of advertising. Core Apps are covered under a systemwide contract that the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) negotiated with Google.

Under the UCOP negotiated agreement, Google provides a greater level of protection for your data in the Core Apps than they do for regular consumers. These protections comply with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the US-EU Safe Harbor agreement, which helps ensure that data protection compliance meets European Union standards for educational institutions. Use of the Core Apps are subject to University appropriate use guidelines and electronic records policies.

Google Consumer Apps

Google Consumer Apps include: YouTube, Google+, Maps, etc. View full list of enabled apps here. Unlike the Core Apps, Consumer Apps are not governed by Berkeley’s contract with Google. Instead, they are governed by a contract between the individual user and Google.

The Consumer Apps are not FERPA compliant, and only information intended for public access (Protection Level 0) should be requested and shared within these apps. Learn more about keeping sensitive data safe. To use Consumer Apps with your UC Berkeley account, you will need to agree to Google's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. We recommend reviewing both the terms of service and privacy policy before using these services.