This Android 11 trick could stop unused apps snooping on your data
Developers testing out the latest Android 11 preview have spotted a clever new feature, which could automatically stop apps from accessing your info if you’ve not used them for a few months.
As reported in Android Police, the new feature could auto revoke permissions when apps have been sat idly on your phone for a long time.
At present, the setting is not turned on by default, and reports suggest that the ‘permissions’ you can revoke vary across different apps.
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Anyone who’s already on the developer program and has downloaded the third version of the preview should be able to spot the feature in the app permissions tab, which you can access via opening up the settings and then navigating to ‘Apps & notifications.’
Unfortunately, it will be a while before you can fully test it out, as the automatic activity doesn’t kick in until you’ve ignored an app for a few months – and Google hasn’t offered any information on how many months classifies as ‘a few’.
The new feature could help users better protect their data, as sloppy phone users will often forget to uninstall unused apps that are sucking up their info. But as the feature is still only available on the developer preview, there’s no solid confirmation that it will be available to the general public.
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This is the third – and mostly likely final – version of the developer preview, as the public beta version is expected to roll out within a few weeks. We’d have expected to hear more about the upcoming Android 11 update at Google I/O, however that has since been cancelled.
Recent Pixel handsets will likely be the first phones that are treated to the Android 11 update, but we’d expect to see the Pixel 5 run the new version of the OS from its launch date.