Android P
in depth:
An up-close look at
what's new with security
An exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the most
significant privacy and security changes on the way
with Google's Android P release.
Google is slowly pulling back the curtains on its next-gen Android P release. We got our first
glimpse at a work-in-progress, developer-focused preview of the software — and we're getting a
closer look at what exactly is new when it comes to Android P and the ever-evolving subject of
Android security.
More controlled access to your
device's camera, mic, and sensors
Starting with Android P, an app won't be able to access your camera, microphone, or most of its sensors
while it's running in the background — unless it makes it perfectly clear to you that it's doing so.
This is basically a preventative measure to make sure bad apps aren't able to abuse legitimate
permissions they've been granted. The way it'll work is this:
Whenever an app is in the background and idle, the hardware won't deliver any data to it from the
camera, mic, or sensors — even if it tries to check in with any of those sources.
If an app has a valid reason for accessing one of those elements in the background, it'll have to create a
foreground process to do it. In layman's terms, that means you as the user will see a notification
anytime that's occurring.
"We want to make sure that whenever a sensor's being used — whether it's the camera, microphone, or
any other sensor — that there's a clear disclosure to the user, and so there's always that persistent
notification," Xin says.
The change will affect all apps as of Android P, regardless of when they were last updated or what
Android version level they're targeting. The one exception to the rule is a device's GPS sensor: Since
that's already controlled via its own standalone toggle in Android's Quick Settings, it won't require an
ongoing foreground process to remain active.
Xin says in all of Google's testing thus far, she and her team have yet to encounter a single app where
legitimate functionality has been disrupted as a result of the change.
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