Android applications that haven’t been used in a long time will soon lose their ability to access critical device functions like sensors, SMS messages, and contact lists.
Google aims to expand the availability of “permissions auto-reset,” an Android privacy feature that immediately revokes an app’s previously granted permissions to access a device’s location, camera, microphone, and other features, starting in December.
Last year, Google introduced the functionality for Android 11, but it will be expanded to “billions of more devices” in December through Google Play services for smartphones running Android 6.0 (API level 23) from 2015 and newer.
“For apps targeting Android 11 (API level 30) or higher, the functionality will be enabled by default. Users may, however, explicitly activate permission auto-reset for apps targeting API levels 23 to 29 “In an Android developer blog post, Google says.
The function is designed to assist Android users in managing privacy-sensitive app permissions when they have dozens of applications on their smartphone, many of which aren’t used frequently or for lengthy periods of time. It focuses on an app’s “runtime permissions,” or “dangerous permissions,” which allow it to access the user’s location, contact information, messages, and other personal information.
If an app targeting Android 6 or above isn’t utilized for a few months after being released in Q2 2022, Android will automatically reset the sensitive runtime permissions that the user provided to the app.
In developer notes, Google says that “this action has the same impact as if the user saw a permission in system settings and changed your app’s access level to Deny.”
All Android mobile applications on consumer devices will be affected by the change. Google has established an exemption for corporate-managed applications and apps with permissions set by enterprise policy.
App developers may also ask a user to stop auto-set for their app on Google’s platform. This might be appropriate for programs that are intended to run in the background, such as family safety apps, data syncing apps, smart device control apps, or device pairing apps.
