Android privacy security updates at a glance

Author/ Sara N-Marandi, Product Manager, Android Platform Product

People want to use trusted operating systems and applications to process the most private and sensitive information. Privacy is at the core of Android product principles. As we in the 160b6214bb2beb Android privacy update list speech, Android 12 continues to expand on the basis of existing security, and further increases the privacy protection features of the platform.

Android 12 provides users with more transparency about application access data, and at the same time, it can manage concisely and clearly through simple controls. Android is also committed to reducing the scope of permissions so that apps can only access data necessary to provide functionality. Let's take a look at some important updates brought by Android 12 to protect user privacy.

Privacy Dashboard -Users often tell us that they want to know what data the app uses. Users will see a simple and clear timeline in the new privacy dashboard to understand the app’s access to location, microphone, and camera in the past 24 hours. You can also share more background information about application usage data through the new permission intent API in Android 12. The privacy dashboard will be added in Beta 2 for everyone to experience.

We recommend that all developers review the application code, understand data access requirements, including data used by third-party SDKs, and ensure that all use cases have valid reasons. To help you do this, we have added data access audit API in Android 11, allowing you to easily audit the data used by the application. You can use this API to check which parts of the code have accessed private data and take corresponding clean-up measures.

△ View the access status of location information in the past 24 hours through the privacy dashboard

Microphone and camera indicator -We have improved the transparency of microphone and camera access in Android 12: When the app uses the microphone or camera, the user will know in real time. Users can also enter the Quick Settings (Quick Settings) to easily view the applications that use the microphone and camera. If the access is improper, the user can also quickly navigate to the app's permission page to revoke its permission.

Developers should review the application's use of microphones and cameras, and remove scenes that cause accidental use. For example, you should ensure that your application uses these sensors only when the user clicks on features that require the use of the microphone and camera. Microphone and camera indicators will be added in Beta 2 for everyone to experience.

△ Microphone and camera indicators and switches

Microphone and camera switch -You may have seen someone put a sticker on the camera or plug in an audio blocker on the phone to protect their privacy. In Android 12, we introduced two new controls that allow users to quickly and easily cut off app access to the device’s microphone and camera. In addition, to ensure user safety, emergency calls will be handled as an exception.

If an app that has been granted permission attempts to access the microphone or camera, but the user has turned them off, the system will display a message informing the user that the sensor must be turned on again to use the app’s functions. If you follow the application permission best practice , then you don't need to do anything special to get these state switching functions. The microphone and camera switch functions will be added in Beta 2 for everyone to experience.

approximate location -In the past two versions, we have refined the location permissions. First of all, we separated the back-end and front-end access. Then, we added a "only this time" option to further restrict access to the background location. We have seen users give positive feedback on these control functions and are using them more often. If there are options to choose from, users will share their location with the app less by allowing only the foreground location access in about 80% of the cases.

In Android 12, we will give users more control over their location data. The user can select the position accuracy provided to the application through the "Approximate Position" option.

We recommend that you review the application's use of location information. If your function does not require precise location, please apply for ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION permission. You should also be prepared to deal with users’ reduced location accuracy, and make sure that when users choose to grant approximate locations, your app can still run normally. The approximate location has been added Beta 1 for everyone to experience.

△ Location permission request dialog, providing approximate location and precise location options

Clipboard read notification -The content copied to the clipboard may contain sensitive information because users often copy emails, addresses, and even passwords. Android 12 will notify the user every time the app reads content from the clipboard, and every time the app calls getPrimaryClip() , the user will see a prompt message at the bottom of the screen. If the clipboard data is from the same application, no prompt will appear. You can first use getPrimaryClipDescription() to understand the type of data in the clipboard, so as to minimize the access to the clipboard. The recommended best practice is to only access the clipboard if the user understands why they are accessing the clipboard. The clipboard read notification will be added in Beta 2 for everyone to experience.

Nearby device permissions -Android 12 adds a new runtime permission that can scan nearby devices without using user location information, thereby reducing access to user data. Previously, companion apps for devices such as watches and headsets required location permissions to scan for nearby Bluetooth devices and pair them. This confuses users and developers, and can also cause users to grant location permissions when they are not necessary. For applications that upgrade the Target SDK level to Android 12, you can use the new BLUETOOTH_SCAN permission and set the usesPermissionFlags="neverForLocation" attribute to scan for nearby devices to decouple from the fine location permission. After pairing with the device, use the new BLUETOOTH_CONNECT permission to interact with it. Applications that use Bluetooth scanning for location must still have location permissions. Nearby device permissions have been added to Beta 1 for everyone to experience.

Application dormancy -Last year we launched the automatic permission reset function. If an application is not used for a long time, Android will automatically revoke the permission of the application. In the past two weeks, Android reset permissions for more than 8.5 million apps. This year, based on the automatic reset of permissions, we intelligently sleep applications that have not been used for a long time to optimize device storage, performance, and security. The system will not only revoke the permissions previously granted by the user, but also forcibly stop the application and reclaim memory, storage, and other temporary resources. The user only needs to start the application to bring it out of the dormant state. Application sleep has been added Beta 1 for everyone to experience.

Android 12 is by far our most ambitious version in terms of privacy security. Along the way, we have been in close contact with the developer community, working together to build a platform that puts privacy first, while also taking into account the impact on developers. Thank you everyone for your continued feedback and support to make our platform more private and safer for everyone. Please go to developer website to learn more about new features and details.

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