With Android 14, Google wants to make sure that you as a user know better what happens to certain data. Google has been making significant strides in this in recent years, increasingly ensuring that you as a user are well informed. Such adjustments are important in an online landscape full of advertisers.
By now we know. The Internet is full of ads, and underlying platforms do everything they can to capture your data. This also happens in apps you use on your smartphone. In both cases, this happens invisibly, but as a user, you are not completely defenseless.
Android 14 gives even more insight
Indeed, you can much more easily withdraw permissions from apps these days, making that information unavailable. You can also work or play in privacy-friendly environments, with or without a workaround. And through the privacy dashboard, you can always see where you stand.
Using the same charger in the future? (Image: Unsplash/Onur Binay)
One component advertisers often look out for is your location. Based on that, they can show relevant ads, about nearby businesses. Android 14 wants to make you keenly aware of that, according to the first developer preview of the system. For example, when you first start giving permission to that data.
What do apps do with that data?
Then a notification pops up explaining what such an ad party does with your data. It may be shared with third parties. You’ll also see a link to the privacy options on your smartphones, should you want to change anything right away. You can also land on this help page from Google.
Furthermore, Android 14 provides a handy overview of apps that have recently shared your location data. You can see why they do so and, if necessary, withdraw consent. And should a change in policy be noticed somewhere, Google will notify you of that as well.
Not everyone is yet fully aware of what it means for apps and sites to have access to this kind of data. That’s why it’s good to see Google making us more and more aware of this in the future. Hopefully Google will take the same steps for the other permissions within Android.
