Title: Google restricts developers from tracking Android apps on the phone
description: Google is often the center of attention when it comes to data privacy and security.
This has been happening more and more frequently recently.
We have learned that Google is changing its policy, especially regarding the privacy of user data. In addition, Google is also changing the developer program rules and announced a new update. It turns out that developers won't be able to see Android apps installed on your phone. Google restricts developers from viewing Android apps.
Google announced a stream of changes to the Developer Program Policies, especially for developers distributing apps on the Play Store. Google now restricts developers from viewing the list of Android apps installed on your device. Moving on to details,
Google now restricts developers from using the QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission. This permission allowed them access to view the inventory of installed applications on any device. Additionally, the new policy change applies to all apps that target API30 + on devices running Android 11 and above. Is it a good move? It depends for whom. Many standard phone users are probably happy that no one will know what applications they have installed on the phone. The latest policy change appears to be part of an initiative to restrict high-risk / confidential permissions usage for Android users. The latest update restricts developers from accessing applications using less intrusive methods. This further restricts their access to only selected Android applications. These applications include antivirus, file managers, device search, and browsers. It's not everything. In addition, Google asks developers to provide "sufficient justification as to why a less intrusive method of application visibility does not provide sufficient functionality for the underlying application that is policy compliant and accessible to users." Google makes exceptions for digital wallets. However, there are a few exceptions to the new policy change.
The Android manufacturer allows a temporary exception for dedicated banking apps and digital wallets. In other words, developers using these digital wallets will still be able to view installed apps on their Android device. Google notes that this is mainly for security reasons. In addition, Google lists several instances of misuse in cases where the data is required for sale or the use of the permission is not directly related to the main purpose of the application.
keywords: google, changes, developers, applications
