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How to manage your camera and mic permissions on your Android phone
Allow or deny app permissions with a few simple taps
Once again you've downloaded a new app on your trusty Android phone, but every time you open that app, it sends notification that states you must turn on camera and microphone permissions in the settings. Essentially, some apps don't function without enabling these (required) permissions. So you're stuck toggling on these permissions anyway. However, thanks to the continuous privacy and security updates from Android OS, you can now at least control how often and when it can be used. Other times, you may prefer to visit the permissions manager to rescind permissions from data-hungry apps. Either way, we recommend learning how to access the permission manager from the Privacy Dashboard. To help get you started, we will teach you how to manage your camera and mic permissions on any dependable Android phone.
Android 13's new opt-in notification permission system won't be mandatory for a while
Its API requirement means Google shouldn't enforce the change until mid-to-late 2023 at the soonest
One of the most hyped changes for Android 13 was the change to its notification system, which would require apps to explicitly prompt users into opting-in to receive notifications, as on iPhones. In essence, apps would need your permission before they are allowed to bother you. It's a big change, and it turns out developers have plenty of time to plan for it. According to Esper.io's Mishaal Rahman, the adjustment will only affect apps that target the Android 13 API (level 33). In more practical terms, that means developers have years to ignore it, and customers probably won't see the benefits until then.
Here’s what Android 13’s new notification permissions look like in action
Apps will have to ask before they bother you
Among other anticipated features, Android 13 is making notifications a permission setting. As in, for an app to harass your notification bar, pinging you with impunity, it has to actually ask you to do that first. We knew it was coming, but now we know what it might look like when it does land.
The Play Store is getting Apple-style privacy labels: here's our first look
The mockups for the new safety section are "directional" and for developers, but Google says they may pan out
Back in May, Google announced that the Play Store was also getting App Store-style privacy labels, one-upping Apple's implementation by requiring extra information about customer security, if user data can be deleted, and whether permissions are optional or required. Like it or hate it, the new "safety section," as Google calls it, will be mandatory for all apps on the Play Store, kicking into gear in Q2 2022. And today, Google is sharing a few more specifics on precisely how it will work, what it might look like, and how developers can prepare.
How to give apps only your approximate location on Android 12
You'll soon have another decision to make when giving permissions
Apple and Google are each slow-stepping their ways to giving their customers more privacy options up front when they want to interact with apps. For example, Android has been offering users the choice to give specific permissions like access to location data to an app for one time only, while the app is in use, or not at all. With Android 12, users get to control how accurate the location data they give is.
Google is planning a big — and mandatory — overhaul of app privacy and security on the Play Store
Similar-sounding privacy details, but more and better information when it comes to your security
Last year, Apple rolled out a new set of what it called Privacy Labels for the App Store. These disclaimers were sort of like privacy-oriented nutrition information attached to each app listing, with developers supplying the details regarding exactly what data their apps collect and precisely how it's used — assuming you trust them to be honest. The moment that news landed last year, expectations swung our collective attention at Google: When would Android and the Play Store get something similar?
How to get rid of Google Photos' out-of-sync changes prompt on Android 11
The fix requires an ADB shell command and only works on some phones
Android 11 introduced a new file accessing API, Scoped Storage. It essentially doesn't allow apps to access all files on your phone anymore, which is great for security. However, Scoped Storage also comes with some unwanted consequences. Non-Pixel phones running Android 11 have to ask users to confirm that they want to delete or restore images in Google Photos since the app isn't allowed to delete and restore files without explicit user consent anymore. Luckily, there's a fix for some phones.
Scoped storage on Android 11 is ruining the Google Photos experience
If your go-to gallery app is Photos, deleting anything from your Android 11 device will be a bother and there's little you can do about it
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If you plan on buying a phone with Android 11 soon, you'll want to get used to your manufacturer's gallery app. And if you're going to be using Google Photos on something that's not a Pixel, be prepared to confirm every single thing you want to delete on the app. The reason why boils down to a new, well-intentioned policy in the operating system that leaves end users with some annoying consequences.
Here's what Android 11's automatically revoked permissions look like once they're triggered
It takes a few months to happen, though
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Android 11 Developer Preview 3 has a new setting for app permissions, allowing them to be automatically revoked if you don't use the app for long enough. Disabled by default, the descriptively-named "Auto revoke permissions" setting will revoke permissions for a given app if it isn't used "for a few months."
Google opts all users out of voice data collection, explains what it does with the data
Learn about what happens to your data before opting in again
If you've used any of Google's voice services for Assistant, Maps, and Search, you will have gotten a lengthy notice about some major changes as to how and why it collects audio of what you say. These actions are a response to last year's revelations about how humans were contracted to review those clips and how some of them got leaked. The top-line takeaway here is that every user has been opted out of data collection.
Access Dots adds logs for tracking permissions, plus better notch support
The app adds iOS 14-like dots when your camera or mic are accessed
Privacy is always a major concern, especially when there are shady apps out there that like to have constant access to your info. When Apple unveiled iOS 14 last month, one standout feature was access indicators, small symbols in the status bar that are displayed when either the camera or microphone are in use. Thanks to the developer of Energy Ring and Energy Bar, we can now enjoy a similar feature on Android.
Android 11 apps won't have full storage access until 2021
Google blames "COVID-19 related considerations"
Google tried to sneak scoped storage into Android 10, but developers weren't having it. This more restrictive (and secure) method of managing your internal storage is coming back in Android 11, but there will be a new "all files access" permission. Or rather, there was supposed to be. Google has updated its support page to clarify that Android 11 apps won't be able to use that permission until 2021.
Google boots popular anti-spam call service YouMail off the Play Store (Update: It's back)
Google really needs to fix its automated app review process
Every other month, a legitimate, useful app gets kicked off the Play Store while sleazy applications with bad intentions thrive. Google's removal algorithms often cite arbitrary reasons as in the recent case of Slide for Reddit. The third-party client was removed for including a screenshot of an article in its listing that contained the word "ISIS" (which had been there for years). The latest app to be hit by Google's automated patrol is YouMail, a visual voicemail service that offers spam call protection. It has been booted from the Play Store because Google supposedly couldn't find evidence it's actually blocking spam.
Android 11 follows in iOS's footsteps, heavily restricts background location access for apps
It'll be much harder to accidentally grant background access
If you're skeeved out by apps tracking your location at all times (or even asking you to allow them to do so), good news: Android 11 aims to curb that behavior. The newest OS version requires apps to jump through a number of new hoops to get constant location access, eventually including getting approval to remain listed on the Play Store.
Android 11 will block apps from repeatedly asking for permissions
Android is taking inspiration from web browsers
Over the past few years, web browsers have started to change how permissions work, to curb bad behavior from websites. For example, most browsers now block auto-playing videos with audio entirely, while the request prompt for notifications might be hidden on Chrome soon. Android is apparently taking a cue from changes like these, as Android 11 now blocks apps from repeatedly asking for a given permission.
First Android 11 Developer Preview lands today for Google Pixel 2, 3, 3a, and 4
Our first taste of Android's latest release includes new notification tweaks, privacy and security enhancements, and more
Android 11 is now official, and Google is releasing the first Developer Preview for this new version starting today. The software changes this time sound ambitious, with Google essentially taking most of its work on Android 10 and (literally) turning it up to 11, featuring enhancements to privacy and security, improvements to Project Mainline, a new dedicated "conversations" section for notifications, and tweaks to better harness 5G — all among a much longer list of changes just too big to include here. You can check it out for yourself by manually flashing it onto supported Pixel phones (everything but the 2016 OGs).
Over the last week or so, the popular SMS to Gmail backup application SMS Backup+ has finally stopped working as a result of Google's Gmail API changes. When messages regarding the app's impending loss of functionality were sent out a few months back, our readers were understandably upset. After all, over five million people use SMS Backup+, and not just for backups, but for moving messages between devices and the convenience of Gmail-based threaded conversation view. Thankfully, SMS Backup+ has an IMAP-based workaround which still works.
Over the last year, Google has been instituting sweeping changes when it comes to app permissions to help protect user privacy. It imposed new restrictions when it came to SMS and phone permissions, and plenty of app makers found themselves caught in the Google support machine. Now developers found in violation of recent Gmail API changes are left out in the lurch, and the list of affected apps includes SMS Backup+, Nine, and even SwiftKey.
In Android Q Beta 3, background activities were made the scourge of the kingdom. No background app could start a foreground task. Sure, it was meant to stop any malicious developers from doing some unwanted snooping on their users' devices, but it also cuts off automation apps like Tasker from triggering their jobs. Google does allow for exceptions to this ban, but none of them have suited those apps until the company introduced a new exception to the list with the release of Android Q Beta 4: SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW.
One of the Google's main focuses in Android recently has been cutting back on permissions, for better or worse. The Play Store has been more restrictive on applications allowed to use SMS and calling permissions, which famously crippled apps like Cerberus and Watch Droid. Google announced today at I/O that the number of apps using these permissions has dropped by 98% in recent months.