Don’t Delay, Perform This Security Check on Your Android Smartphone

The importance of auditing permissions on Android. Very simple and available on Android 10 and later.

Android’s reputation as a platform that doesn’t care about user privacy is no longer relevant: if you own a new Android smartphone, you have a lot of control over which apps can access your data and in what contexts. With new accessibility features, you can even temporarily grant the app access to your location. If you haven’t spent time evaluating these permissions in a while, you should audit now.

The Importance of Auditing Permissions on Android

Thanks to the integration of these privacy controls from Google, most modern Android smartphones have a dedicated permissions manager. As of Android 12, it’s called the privacy bar. One place to determine which apps can access what, be it call history, camera, microphone, location, contacts, and more.

Open the Settings app on your smartphone and go to Privacy > Permission Manager (or Privacy Dashboard). Manufacturers may have changed the name a bit, if you can’t find it, search for “permission”in the Settings app.

You will see a list of available permissions. Check this list and see if anything out of the ordinary. For example, Facebook is asking for permanent location access or an obscure app looking at your call history. Select the desired application and click “Deny”. Some features require these permissions to work: if you return to the app and notice that some setting is not working, you will need to authorize that permission again.

Very simple and available on Android 10 and later.

If you don’t want to block the app, you can fine tune the permissions. For example, users of Android 10 and later can only share their location in the app when the app is active. On Android 11 and above, you can set temporary access to certain permissions. Android 12 goes even further by providing a rough location so that the app knows exactly where you are.

Now that you understand how these permissions work in the latest versions of Android, go through the list of apps and remove any permissions you don’t like. Feel free to use temporary permissions.