This new Android 11 feature will now be available for older versions of the OS
1 min read 18 Sep 2021, 05:55 PM ISTThe new feature has been designed to help protect user privacy by preventing older apps from having unlimited access to the phone's permissions
PremiumAndroid 11 has a permissions auto-resetting feature which is now available for older operating systems. Using the feature, the operating system can restrict an app's permission to access sensitive phone features like its storage or cameras if it hasn't been opened for several months.
This feature made its debut with Android 11 last year and now it will be available for all devices running on Android 6 and above with Google Play services. The new feature will be made available for "billions" of Android phones released since 2015.
The new feature has been designed to help protect user privacy by preventing older apps from having unlimited access to the phone even if they haven't been using the application in months.
A lot of people, download applications for single-time use or for a limited period and also provide it will all the necessary and crucial permissions. However, after a while these apps just stay on the device and continue enjoying all access provided to it, despite being of no major use. The permission auto-resetting feature swoops in to limit the access to apps.
According to Google, the feature will automatically be enabled on devices with Google Play services that are running Android 6.0 (API level 23) or higher. However, it has to be enabled manually for apps that aren't targeting Android 11. Google further said that the apps might ask users to disable this privacy feature if they're regularly required to work in the background without you opening them.
