This review explains Walmart’s own customer privacy notice in plain language, for shoppers, parents, and older adults. It was checked on September 23, 2026. The notice itself was updated August 20, 2026. This is not Walmart’s pharmacy or vision notice, and it is not legal advice.
Primary source: Walmart Customer Privacy Notice.
Snapshot
- Covers U.S. and Puerto Rico stores, websites, and apps where this notice is posted.
- Collects identifiers, purchases, device IDs, and, with consent, precise location, camera, microphone, and biometrics.
- Uses information for orders, ads, recommendations, fraud checks, and, in Walmart’s words, “training our AI.”
- May disclose information to Sam’s Club and other corporate-family companies, vendors, advertisers, and, for some categories, business partners for their own use.
- Sites are not directed to children. Walmart says it does not knowingly collect personal information from children online.
What they collect
The notice lists basic identifiers such as name, phone, email, and address, plus device and online identifiers such as IP address, cookie IDs, and mobile ad IDs. It also lists purchase history, communications with Walmart, demographics if you provide them, payment numbers, and inferences about preferences.
Location is imprecise by default, inferred from an IP address. Precise location is collected only if you consent. In stores, Bluetooth and free Wi-Fi can be used to recognize that your phone is in the store and to show nearby products.
Who gets the data
Walmart says it may disclose personal information within its corporate family, including Sam’s Club and One Finance, in ways consistent with this notice. Vendors get information to ship, bill, and process payments. Marketplace sellers get information needed to provide their product to you, and the notice says they are prohibited from using it for other purposes.
Advertising partners, social platforms, and measurement vendors also receive information. Appendix 1 says identifiers, commercial information, geolocation, sensory information, and inferences may be sold or shared with business partners for their own independent use, not only to serve Walmart. That is the state-law “sale or share” point. Text-message opt-in data is an exception: Walmart says it will not disclose that consent data to third parties for their own marketing.
Easy to miss
- Email, push, and postal mail are opt-out. Automated calls and texts are opt-in. Stopping mail can take six to ten weeks.
- An interest-based ad opt-out applies to the current browser on the current computer. If you clear cookies, you have to opt out again.
- Global Privacy Control is honored for the browser that sends it. If you are logged in when you send it, Walmart says the opt-out extends to the account, including linked VIZIO products that support it. Other “do not track” signals are not honored.
- If you give a phone number at the register, Walmart may store it with your account and use the purchase to tailor online ads.
New technology
The August 20, 2026 update added voice interactions. If you turn on the shopping voice assistant and consent to the microphone, the app “will continually listen for the key words ‘Hey, Walmart'” while the app is open. Walmart says it does not keep audio from before that phrase, and that it does not use voice data for biometric analysis. A text transcription is what Walmart receives.
Virtual try-on is separate. Eyeglass try-on collects biometric measurements and the notice says that data is deleted within 48 hours and is not sold or shared. Makeup try-on images are not stored, but measurements and images may be shared with Perfect Corp. Apparel try-on photos may be used to improve the tool.
VIZIO is owned by Walmart. Viewing and app data stay under the VIZIO policy unless you opt in to combine them with your Walmart account. You can turn that link off at VIZIO.com/account. In-store cameras and, where the law allows, license-plate readers are also described. A separate ALPR notice was not opened for this review.
Kids and families
Walmart says its sites are for a general audience and are not directed to children, defined as under 13 or 14 depending on the region. It does not knowingly collect personal information from children online. A child-directed service would post a separate notice. If you share a Walmart+ membership, the primary member can see some benefit information, such as aggregate savings by category.
Older adults
You can update contact and payment details in the account. To delete the account, the notice says to use Contact Us, or in the app open Account and use Delete Account. Privacy requests in some states can also be made by phone at 1-800-925-6278, saying “Privacy.” Identity checks may include a one-time passcode. Do not give that code to someone who calls you claiming to be Walmart.
What you can turn off
- On the phone, turn off location and Bluetooth for the Walmart app if you do not want in-store or pickup location used. As of this review, that control is in the phone’s settings, not only in the Walmart app.
- Use Your Privacy Choices in the website footer or app settings to opt out of sale, sharing, and targeted advertising. Logged-in Global Privacy Control can extend that choice to the account.
- Turn off “Hey, Walmart” by withdrawing microphone consent in the phone settings.
- If you linked a VIZIO TV, sign in at VIZIO.com/account and turn off combining viewing data with the Walmart account.
What this means for you
A normal Walmart purchase creates a record that can follow you into ads, and some of that information can go to business partners for their own use unless you opt out. The newest sharp edges are the always-listening wake word, camera try-on, and the optional link between Walmart and a VIZIO TV.
Does Walmart sell personal information?
The notice says some disclosures may be deemed a sale or share under state privacy laws, and Appendix 1 lists categories sold or shared with business partners for their own use. You can opt out through Your Privacy Choices or Global Privacy Control.
Is the pharmacy covered here?
No. Pharmacy, vision, and financial products have separate notices. Those pages were not opened for this review.
This is not legal advice. It is a reading of the customer privacy notice as checked on September 23, 2026. Menus move. Recheck the notice if you are about to rely on a setting.