How do you know that an app is not secretly misusing permissions to track you, for example for advertising purposes? After all, it is difficult to determine whether a microphone, camera or GPS is being addressed. By cleverly dealing with these permissions, you can protect Android against this.
From Android version 6, which was rolled out about five years ago, Android has app permissions. Before an app can access system components, it must specifically request access to it. Think of the camera, microphone, location data, calendar, contacts, storage space, telephone rights, and so on. Sometimes it makes sense for an app to ask for permissions, for example Google Maps, which asks for location data to show exactly where you are on the map. But a game, for example, never needs permission to make phone calls. As a user you can choose to allow or deny permissions. From Android 10 it is even possible to give apps access to location data only when the app is in use, so that they cannot request your location in the background.
Background processes
Using permissions in the background creates an unsafe feeling. Many apps are active as a background process. But there is no way to know if the apps are still using assigned permissions. How can you be sure that dubious apps, like those from Instagram or Facebook, don’t secretly access your camera and microphone to satisfy their data hunger? Or how about the Google Assistant, which continuously monitors to get active when you say ‘Hey Google’? By cleverly dealing with permission management, you can prevent background processes from using permissions.
When you have granted an app a permission, you can also revoke it whenever you want. For this you dive into the settings. The menu item has permissions management, although it is sometimes also called permissions or permissions management (depending on the manufacturer’s Android skin). In this practical example, we will use a Samsung smartphone for a moment, because they are common. Go to Settings / Apps. Press the three dots in the top right and choose Permission management. Here you will get a list of all (for apps) available permissions. You press for example Camera, you will see every app that has access to both the camera on the front and back of your Android. If there are apps that you would prefer not to grant access to the permission, select the app from the list and choose Refuse. This way you can go through which apps you trust with it for each permission. If an app needs the permission again, it will ask for it when you open the app again.
Hidden permissions
We already mentioned the Google Assistant in an earlier paragraph, which is continuously monitoring. You may have noticed that it is not visible in the list in permissions manager. It is best to completely deny Google access to (especially) your camera and microphone. Google has cunningly managed to hide itself. Go back to the permission management, choose a permission (e.g. Microphone) and then press the three dots at the top and Display system. Now so-called ‘system apps’ also appear in the list. By searching Google Play Services, you can deny it the right to your camera and microphone. If it is not in the list, you can enter View Settings / Apps / System also look up the Google Play Services in the list and at Permissions indicate which system components the process can access exactly. As a result, the Google Assistant and other Google services no longer have unsolicited access to important permissions.
Secure Android
Do you want to know more about how to secure your Android? Then the free course on Android security offers a solution. In this course you will not only learn how the security of Android works, but also how you can use the buttons yourself to prevent malware, permissions, what to do in the event of theft and password management. You will find the course In 60 minutes: Secure Android. On the site of the Tech Academy.
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