Google announced Android 12 at its I/O 2021 developer conference last month. Given the radical UI overhaul, many Pixel users have already installed the Android 12 beta on their devices, making it the most downloaded Android beta ever. While the wallpaper-based theming system and one-handed mode are exciting Android 12 features, a major privacy-friendly change in Android 12 is the addition of a “Privacy Dashboard”. In this article, you will learn how to use the privacy dashboard in Android 12 to take control of your privacy.
The Privacy Dashboard is currently available on Pixel phones running Android 12. If everything goes according to plan, we could expect the privacy feature to reach other Android 12 phones running OEM skins as well. So without further ado, here’s all you need to know about the privacy dashboard on Android.
- What is Privacy Dashboard in Android 12?
- How to Use Android 12 Privacy Dashboard?
- Get Privacy Dashboard on Any Android Phone
What is Privacy Dashboard in Android 12?
Privacy Dashboard is a new feature on Android aimed to help users keep track of apps that access sensitive permissions. It neatly represents a timeline of apps that accessed your phone’s permissions in the last 24 hours. With Privacy Dashboard, Android users can easily spot and uninstall rogue apps that may be snooping on their data.
You won’t get the timeline of apps that accessed permissions for all these categories, though. With Android 12, you will get app access timelines for location, camera, and microphone permissions. Wider support for all permissions is something Google may add in future Android updates.
How to Use Android 12 Privacy Dashboard?
Now that you know what Privacy Dashboard is, here’s how you can access and use the privacy-friendly Android 12 feature on your phone.
- To see the list of apps that accessed specific permissions, say location permission, tap on individual permission options below the chart. For instance, if you would like to check the apps that accessed your location in the last 24 hours, tap on “Location” and check out the complete timeline. Android 12 will also show the duration for which apps accessed the permission below the app’s name, but that’s not here as of Android 12 beta 2.
