Soon, these apps will be removed from Google Play Store
Google Play, the official app store for Android, hosts an insanely high number of apps. They're sprinkled across several categories, starting from games and shopping to music and productivity. But now, Google has decided to remove certain apps from the store in a bid to ensure user data remains accessible only to developers who really need it. Here's more on the action.
Google's new policy for SMS, call log permissions
All Play Store apps seek user 'permissions' and highlight what kind of data would be accessed by them. The access is taken to enable various experiences, but can even be re-purposed for collecting data that is not needed. As this could pose a security risk (sometimes), Google has decided to change its policy and limit which apps would get SMS and call log permissions.
This disrupts several apps using SMS, call log permissions
Google had announced the move in October and gave developers using call log, SMS permissions 90 days to remove the permissions or submit a 'permissions declaration' form for further review of their use case. Now, with that deadline being over, the company has stated that apps that didn't submit this form or remove the permissions would be taken down in the coming weeks.
Are all apps going to be pulled?
While the move is big, it is important to note that not all apps seeking these permissions would be removed. Dialers and messaging platforms used as default apps will have full access to the sensitive data, along with those approved by Google. Put simply, access will be given only where it's needed; so no more calculator apps seeking SMS permissions.
How this could break in-app experiences?
Without SMS, call log access, many app functions could be impacted like those offering call recording services (to match phone numbers with recordings), or those offering SMS-based benefits for phone tracking. However, Google says instead of taking full access to SMS and call logs, these developers could use its special APIs for narrower access, like an SMS Retriever API for automatic message-based account verification.
