Privacy

Privacy Dashboard

From here you can see which apps have recently used permissions to access certain features on your phone. Certain permissions for apps can be necessary for some apps and features to work or simply enhance your experience with the apps but you can monitor which apps are accessing these features such as your location, camera, microphone, contacts etc. because it could be a privacy concern especially if untrusted third party apps are accessing these features. Don’t stress yourself too much about it but just keep an eye on which apps you grant permissions to. For example, If you see that instagram has access to your camera you may not have much to worry about because it is an app that you take pictures with so that’s expected. However, if you have a flashlight app that wants to access your camera, microphone, and location you might want to deny access because why would a flashlight app need access to features that aren’t necessary for the app to function? They probably don’t. Only allow apps access to permissions that are necessary for the app to function. And even then they don’t need access all the time.

Now what you also don’t want to do is go through all of your app permissions and deny all access to everything. If you do this you’ll be wondering why nothing is working. Allow access where it’s needed and instead of completely allowing or denying all permissions choose the option that says Allow While Using The App or Ask Every Time. If your phone asks you for permission then you can decide whether or not you want to approve access. If you allow access only while you are using the app then the apps aren’t accessing these features while the app is closed. It is my recommendation that you simply turn on one of these two options where those options are available. With some permissions you can only choose Allow or Deny. Use your discretion.

At the top of this screen you’ll see a circle indicating which features apps have accessed from the following categories:

• Location
• Camera
• Microphone
• Body Sensors
• Calendar
• Call logs
• Files
• Music and Audio
• Nearby Devices
• Notifications
• Phone
• Photos and Videos
• Physical Activity
• SMS

You can then select each category and view the apps that have accessed that particular feature in the past 24 hours.

Permissions Manager

You can access the Permissions Manager by going to Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Permissions Manager.

You will then see all of the same categories listed above in the Privacy Dashboard but instead of showing what apps have accessed those categories in the past 24 hours, you will see what apps are allowed to access these features overall.

Once you’ve selected the app from one of these categories you will be brought to a screen where you can allow or deny that particular apps access to that specific feature. For example, allow or deny Instagrams access to camera or allow or deny Google Maps access to location.

To see all the permissions that the app has access to or is denied access to, tap on the link that says See All “insert app name” Permissions. From here, as stated above, you can Allow, Allow Only While Using The App, Ask Every Time, or Deny any of the permissions that app is capable of accessing. Again, some permissions will only have the options to Allow or Deny.

Note: You can also access these permissions by selecting an app from the Privacy Dashboard.

Pause App Activity If Unused

When you are viewing all of an apps permissions, you can scroll to the bottom and turn the switch on to Pause App Activity If Unused. This will deny permissions if you haven’t used the app in awhile and if you haven’t used it in awhile then the app has no reason to access anything.

Privacy Controls

 

Camera Access

You can turn on or off Camera Access in general for all apps. If you do this you will not be able to use your camera even if it’s just your phone camera. Your camera app is still an app and it needs permission to access your camera to take pictures. If you do keep camera access off in general, whenever you access an app that needs to use your camera, you will get a notification pop up that will ask you if you want to unblock your devices camera. If you do choose to unblock it, it will re-allow access to all apps that you have camera permissions allowed for. To turn it off again you will have to go back into settings and turn it off every time. This may get annoying but it’s entirely up to you.

Microphone Access

Similarly to the Camera Access above, this will turn off Microphone Access for all apps. Doing this will completely deny microphone use even if you’re making a phone call. Your phone app is an app just like your camera app and it requires access to your microphone to work. 

Note: For both Camera and Microphone access I would recommend allowing and denying permissions for each individual app instead of turning all of it off completely. The Permissions Manager is organized enough to make this easy for you.

Show Clipboard Access

When this is on you will be shown a message when apps access text, images, or other content you’ve copied. It may be better that you leave this on so you can see if an app has accessed your clipboard.

Show Passwords

When this is turned on, you will see each character that you type in while you’re entering in a password. This will not show the entire password, just each character you type in and all previous characters will be hidden.

Location Settings

For more on Location Settings, click the link.

More Privacy Settings

 

Notifications On Lock Screen

For more on Notifications On Lock Screen, click on the link.

Android System Intelligence

Android System Intelligence is a feature that will provide you with suggestions based on people, apps, and content you interact with. This gives you a more personalized experience on your phone, apps, and the internet. All of the analytical data is encrypted and some of it will be sent to Google. More personalization typically equates to less privacy.

Device Learning

This will bring you to a page where you can get more information on the device learning aspect of Android System Intelligence

Keyboard

When Keyboard Suggestions is on you will see smart text suggestions in your keyboard suggestion strip which include smart reply and paste.

Customize The Experience Using Your Google Account Data

This will give you a more personalized experience but again, personalization equates to less privacy. If privacy is your main concern you may want to consider turning this off but I would encourage you to learn how your data is being used if you have this feature on.

Clear Data

This will clear any current data that Google and Android System Intelligence has gathered so far. And again, If privacy is a concern I would recommend clearing this data and turning off the above setting. On the flip side, the personalization feature is kind of nice because content is geared towards you.

Personalize App Data

When this is on, your device will gather data from apps that will personalize your experience on your phone. Just remember that however you interact with apps on your phone, all of your usage data is being gathered.

Autofill With Google

Autofill is a feature that fills in your personal information when required so you don’t have to continuously enter all of your information in every time you purchase something online or sign up on a website, app, etc. This will fill in personal information connected to your google account such as your name, address, payment methods, passwords etc.

If there is an Autofill service that you trust more than Google for security and privacy you can download another app through the app store. Make sure that you do enough research on the app you’re using before you download any third party autofill app. Make sure your information is encrypted and can’t be viewed by anyone but you.

Google Location History

This will bring you to a section of your Gmail account where you can toggle on or off your location history. If turned on, this will show you a list of all the places you’ve been with your phone and when. Unless you have a specific reason for tracking where your phone goes I would recommend leaving this off.

Activity Controls

When this is on all of your activity on google sites and apps will be saved in order to give you faster search results, better recommendations and more of a personalized experience in maps, search, and other google services. Again, although convenient, more personalization equates to less privacy.

Ads

This allows for your data to be used to show you personalized advertisements. From here you can completely delete your advertising ID or you can reset it if you are tired of the content you’re being shown and want a fresh start to incorporate all of your new interests in the advertising you’re receiving. Google and Apps that you use will be able to access your data to personalized adds for you.

Usage & Diagnostics

With this on your data will be sent to Google and some other partners to help developers make apps and products better. It is usually off as a default but this is just more data being sent to google on top of everything else. You may get a better experience out of turning this on as long as privacy is not your main concern.