Google is cracking down on apps that can see your device’s installed apps
- Google limits which Android apps can access your installed list of apps.
- The company will limit these apps to categories like antivirus, device search, file manager, and browsers.
Google is no stranger to setting the law for Android when it comes to the permissions developers can use. The company is once again going tough and is now focusing on developers unnecessarily requesting a list of the apps installed on a user’s device.
XDA developer reports that Google made changes to its developer program policy that make it harder for apps to see what other apps are installed. In particular, Google only allows the so-called QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES authorization for an app if it is part of the core functionality. A user’s list of installed apps contains “personal and confidential information”. This permission takes effect when a developer is targeting API level 30 (Android 11).
“Permitted use includes; Device search, anti-virus apps, file managers and browsers ”, it says in an excerpt from the amended directive that was discovered by the point of sale. The optimized guideline also states that financial apps such as bank customers and digital wallets would receive this permission “exclusively” for security reasons.
Read more: Android 11 improves privacy – this is how it can get even better
XDA developer reports that all new apps and app updates on Google Play from November 2021 will have to target API level 30, forcing many developers to pay attention.
Either way, this is a pretty reasonable decision by Google as some apps will search your installed list of apps for advertising purposes or sell that data to others. Malicious actors could theoretically also read lists of apps for their own purposes (e.g., determining the best targets).
Hopefully this will be more successful than Google’s other efforts to restrict permissions on Android. The company had previously restricted call and SMS permissions in the name of security and privacy. However, this affected legitimate apps like the Cerberus device security tool.
