How Google is following Apple to make Android more secure – Times of India

Apple took a major stand to do more to protect the privacy of iPhone users with the release of iOS 14. While Apple did not deny developers from collecting data or creating digital profiles of iPhone users through apps, it simply gave the right to users to at least understand how apps collect data and whether or not they want developers to continue doing so.
This move even got big players like Facebook worried, fearing that if users are given a choice with regards to passive online tracking, most users will automatically deny permissions. And without tracking, ad companies would see a major hit in their revenues. Not to forget that while Google did not directly support or reject the move made by Apple, it took its own sweet time to update Google Suite apps.
Now, with the launch of the latest Android 12, Google thinks following Apple is the right thing to do as more users are now concerned about online privacy. At the keynote of Google I/O 2021 developer conference, Google had a lot to talk about how seriously it takes online privacy of Android users. After Apple released a range of privacy-focused features, Google with the launch of the new Android 12 is also providing similar features. Here are four new privacy features that Google is offering on Android 12 that are similar to what iPhone users enjoy.

Camera and mic indicator
If you use an Android 12 smartphone then you will notice a green light indicator will pop-up with camera and microphone icons on the top right of your status bar the moment an app accesses the camera. Usually, this will obviously be visible when you turn on the camera to click a photo. But if an Android app tries to secretly access the camera or mic then this feature is supposed to alert users. A similar feature is found on iPhones with the latest version of iOS 14 where the camera and mic indicators come in green and yellow colours respectively.
Approximate location versus precise location
With Android 12, Google is giving more control over how much of the location information you want to share with apps. There’s a new ‘approximate location permissions’ setting, apps can be limited to seeing just your approximate location instead of a precise one. Why is this important? Not all apps require your precise location always. For example, weather apps don’t need your precise location to offer an accurate forecast.

Notify you whenever an app accesses your clipboard
Google is borrowing another feature from iOS 14 in which it will alert you the moment any app accesses the clipboard. When Apple released this feature earlier, a lot of apps got into trouble like TikTok, LinkedIn, Call of Duty Mobile, Accuweather, AliExpress, Google News, Reddit among others. Soon, these developers fixed the issue as accessing the clipboard is not always a normal thing to do.
So, why is this feature important? Clipboard data may contain sensitive information like passwords, address, messages or anything that you copy.

Making privacy simple
Android 12 comes with a new Privacy Dashboard that offers a single view into your permissions settings as well as what data is being accessed, how often and by which apps. It also lets you easily revoke app permissions right from the dashboard. So, instead of hunting for privacy settings, you now have a dashboard view of all apps on your phone.
These features make it difficult for malware or other rogue apps to secretly collect personal information making Android 12 phone more secure.