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Android apps that have not been used for a while will soon begin to automatically lose their permission to access sensitive device features, such as sensors, SMS messages, and contact lists.
In December, Google plans to increase the availability of “auto-reset permissions,” an Android privacy feature that automatically revokes permissions previously granted to an app to access location, camera, microphone, and more. of a device.
Google released the feature for Android 11 last year, but in December it will extend it to “billions more devices” through Google Play services on devices running Android 6.0 (API level 23) from from 2015 and newer.
“The feature will be enabled by default for apps targeting Android 11 (API level 30) or higher. However, users can enable automatic permission reset manually for apps targeting API levels 23 to 29,” explains Google in an Android developer blog post.
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The feature aims to help Android users control the permissions of privacy-sensitive apps in the context of users who have dozens of apps on a device, many of which aren’t used as often or for long periods of time. . It targets an app’s “execute permissions” or “dangerous permissions” to access location, contact information, messages, and other private user data.
Around Q2 2022, if an app targets Android 6 or later and is not used for a few months, Android will automatically reset any sensitive execute permissions that the user had granted to an app.
“This action has the same effect as if the user viewed a permission in the system settings and changed the access level of your application to Deny,” Google says in the developer notes.
The change will affect all Android apps on consumer devices. However, Google has made an exception for company-managed apps and apps with permissions that have been corrected by company policy.
Google also allows developers to ask a user to turn off automatic configuration for their app. This might be suitable for apps that are supposed to run in the background, such as apps that keep family safe, data sync apps, smart device control apps, or pairing with other devices.
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The rollout of the auto-reset feature will take place gradually after its launch in December, but it won’t reach all devices between Android 6 and Android 10 until Q1 2022, Google notes.
However, Android 6-10 users can go to an auto reset settings page and turn auto reset on or off for specific apps.
“The system will begin to automatically reset permissions for unused apps a few weeks after the feature is launched on a device,” Google notes.
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