Google To Allow More Granular Control Of Privacy Controls in ‘Android M’
Google is making an effort to give users greater control of their privacy settings with Android M. Rather than giving apps a direct access to whatever user data that it desires, Android M users will be able to select on a per-app basis if they wish to grant access to photos, location data, and contacts.
After all, there’s no reason why a flashlight app should need access to your location data or contacts, so why do we blindly allow these apps to access our data? It’s good to hear that Google is taking the steps to allow customer to have more control over their data, but it’s still up to user to be proactive about what to allow rather than simply **click** **click** **click** through dialog boxes so that they can quickly download the latest apps.
Interestingly enough, this move puts Google closer in line with Apple iOS, which has included such privacy controls for years. And a popular fork of Android, CyanogenMod, has included such functionality in App Ops. What remains to be seen, however, is how apps will react to not being able to access the data that was previously wide open for perusal.
News of Android M first leaked yesterday, and the OS is tipped to be formally announced during the Google I/O conference later this month. Although the name of the operating system is still up in the air, we’ll like throw out Marshmallow, Milky Way, and Milkshake.
