Is it really essential for Waze to know your location when you’re not using it? Or that the Flashlight accesses your contacts or your messages? Maintain the confidentiality of your personal data by limiting the permissions granted to applications.
If the information is clearly displayed on the Android Play Store, who cares to read the list of privileges required by the applications in detail before installing them? However, these authorizations very often turn out to be unjustified, exposing confidential data for no reason. Fortunately, recent versions of Android allow you to revoke granted permissions a bit quickly.
Change the privileges of an application
If your smartphone has Android 6 or 7, deploy the notifications panel and then tap the gear icon to access the settings home page. Open the Applications section, choose the app that seems a little too curious to you and tap the Permissions heading to display the permissions details. Simply turn off those that you feel are superfluous or abusive. With Android 8, go to settings, tap Apps & notifications, App info and select an app.
Avoid inappropriate access to your contacts, photos, etc.
The previous method is appropriate if you have clearly identified which applications have abusive privileges. On the other hand, it can prove to be laborious when it comes to managing the permissions to access a particular type of data (camera, calendar, contacts, location, SMS, microphone, storage, etc.). , return to Android settings and display the list of applications. Then tap the gear icon at the top of the screen, then tap the Authorization of apps and designate the resource of your choice (contacts for example).
All you need to do is remove the rights to apps that make unjustified use of this data. However, act with restraint so as not to prevent the proper functioning of certain applications. Skype or Snapchat do need to be able to use your phone’s camera or microphone!
