14 DAY TRIAL // We’re only a few hours before Android M is probably announced by Google, and rumors about its purported new features have started multiplying considerably.
We already have a pretty good idea of what Android M is going to bring to the table - for example, we’ve heard that Google has improved battery life and found ways to cut down on RAM usage with the new version. But Google probably has other aces up its sleeve as far as Android M is concerned. One of them might be granular, user-manageable app permission controls.
The folks of Android Police dug out information that shows that Android M will embed an upfront feature to allow users to manage permission to the range of applications installed on a given device.
Android M to make app permission easier
Since Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, users have been allowed to grant or revoke app permission after they have installed a given app, but the caveat was that this function was hidden from view. On top of that, you needed to use a third-party app like App Ops to go about things, which made things a lot more cumbersome.
But as the leaked screenshots prove, Android M might come with a dedicated menu located in Settings, from where users can grant or revoke app permissions via toggles that are to be switched on and off.
For example, with Google+, users would be able to choose whether the app has permission to access the location, contact list or camera roll.
Permissions are also said to be embedded into the apps themselves, which should ask users for permission using a series of dialogues. It is not known whether this “conversation” will take place before the app is open or will be prompted by the course of use.
In all probability, an app will ask for permission right before it gets started, in the iOS fashion. What happens when a user says “no” to the request remains to be seen, and we’ll probably find more about this aspect in a few hours. It will be interesting to see how this novelty will impact developers too.
Anyway, as Google launches Android M, things will probably become clearer. Are you excited to see what the new Android is all about?
