There’s not much that we know about Android M outside of the likelihood that it’ll be discussed at Google I/O this month, but a new report claims to have more information on a feature that Google may include in the update.
Sources speaking to Bloomberg claim that Google will soon give Android users more control over the information that apps have access to. That’s about all that’s known about the feature right now, but it’s expected that Google will shed more light on the expanded app permissions control at Google I/O at the end of May.
When an Android user begins to install a new app, they’re presented with a list of information that the app wants access to, such as Identity, Contacts, Location, Photos/Media/Files,Camera, and Device ID & Call Information. They can then learn more details about what info each permission will grant access to, but there’s no way to disable certain permissions and enabled others. It sounds like the feature that’s alluded to in this new report could let users choose which permissions an app can have, which is something that I’m sure a lot of privacy-focused users will get behind. If that is the case, though, it’ll be interesting to see what happens when a user wants to disable a permission that an app needs to function properly.
