Google I/O 2021: Android 12’s Privacy Dashboard Parks App Permissions All In One Place

While most might be focused on the aesthetic aspects of Android 12’s UI redesign, a greater push for privacy and protecting the data on your phone is coming.

At present, individual app permissions are locked quite deep into individual apps via settings. It’s not easy to toggle access for apps such as location, microphone, or camera for the everyday user.

With Android 12, that will soon all change with a new privacy dashboard.

The idea here is that the dashboard will be the single place where users can view what data is being accessed, how often and by which apps. From there, users are able to remove permissions right away without having to further navigate into the phone.

In addition, there will be a new indicator at the top right of the status bar to alert users when the microphone or camera are being accessed. We’ve seen this in action with iOS and it’s good to see Google giving the same features to the Android family.

Location information can soon be shared with lesser precision for apps as well. There’s no need for certain apps to know exactly where you are when a general sense would be more than sufficient. Why give the weather app the exact location when a broad, less specific, location data could work just as well?

All things considered, this a good move on Google’s part and much needed as a great deal of private information, if not all, can be found on a device we use on a daily basis.