Until a few years ago, any app you installed on an Android device could see all other apps on your phone without your permission.

Since 2022, with Android 11, Google removed this access from app developers. Under their new package visibility policy, apps should only see other installed apps if it’s essential to their core functionality. Developers must also explicitly declare these apps in the AndroidManifest.xml file - a required configuration file for all Android apps.

For extremely specific use cases such as file managers, browsers or antivirus apps, Google grants an exception by allowing QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission, which provides full visibility into installed apps.

I don’t use Android as my primary phone, but I have a spare one and I was really curious to find out which apps from Indian companies had checks to see what other apps I had installed.

So I downloaded a few dozen Indian apps I could think of on top of my head and started reading their manifest files. Surely they will be respectful of my privacy and will only query apps essential to their app’s core functionality? 🙃

    • fxomt@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPM
      9·
      5 days ago

      I didn’t know this ☹ A shame, this is a good article. Would mirroring the text off substack help? (with credit to the original writer of course)

      • oceanAEnglish
        9·
        5 days ago

        idk what that person imagines you can do. HN is also uber right wing run but has awesome posts.

          • oceanAEnglish
            3·
            4 days ago

            yes, my point is the medium doesn’t make the content bad.

              • oceanAEnglish
                3·
                3 days ago

                The head of the company certainly is alt right, I think it’s more subtle with the common users. I was unaware until recently too