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Just a quick skim through, lots of neat features but it doesn't look like there's a lot of privacy-oriented ones, which is rather disappointing. I was really h
by click170 12y ago
Just a quick skim through, lots of neat features but it doesn't look like there's a lot of privacy-oriented ones, which is rather disappointing.
I was really hoping they would bring back whatever API made it possible for things like AppOps Launcher to allow you to prevent other apps from accessing things like your contacts, account listing, or location. I was hoping that when they took it away it was because it was intended for release in a future version, but we've yet to see it since.
- mrich 12y agoUnfortunately not. Making this available is a lose-lose for Google: It will prevent collection of personal data which their business model relies on, and break apps which will diminish the user experience and reflect badly on Android.
- higherpurpose 12y agoDoesn't look like it, and they actually promised a more advanced permission control at I/O this year.
- kijin 12y agoAppOps is still alive, though you'll need root in order to access it. The problem with coarse-grained control like AppOps is that it can cause apps to malfunction or even outright crash when they try to use permissions that you revoked. This is probably not the kind of behavior that Google would like to enable for the average user. Personally, I'd prefer a subtler (but possibly more draconian) approach, such as exposing a fake or empty contact list to apps that want my contacts; exposing some random location in the middle of nowhere to apps that want my location; and exposing a fake or empty folder to apps that want my pictures. Grant access to my messages, but never actually notify them when a new message comes in. Grant access to my microphone, but only ever feed them silence. Poor apps will not even suspect that anything is amiss! Is there any way right now to do something like this on rooted phones?
- surreal 12y agoThe CyanogenMod OS has this built in. Very similar to what you describe (provides empty contact list, empty folder etc to apps you specify). Don't know if there's a standalone app to do the same.
- clumsysmurf 12y ago> The problem with coarse-grained control like AppOps is that it can cause apps to malfunction or even outright crash when they try to use permissions that you revoked. The problem with Android, being a meta-distribution, is that Google has less control over when users (not just Nexus) get version X of Android. I remember Andy Rubin said Android could evolve more quickly because it was open source. Without debating that, its clear that in practice we haven't seen that when taking into account what users are actually using. This makes it very difficult for Google to make these breaking kinds of changes to make things better, so entropy keeps accumulating in the platform.
- chris-at 12y agoAppOps is hardly a solution. It's a very complicated interface for what should be a "Do you want to allow ..." yes/no question.
- yhlasx 12y agoIMO they should take some cues from IOS and allow users to allow/disallow such things when apps make the requests, not dump all permissions as allow all or none when users install the apps.
- click170 12y agoIMO this all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to installing apps is the single biggest problem with Android right now, trumping even the perceived fragmentation problem.