Google introduced a system photo picker to Android a while back to provide more privacy for the photos, videos, and files on your device. Now, Google is pushing more Android apps that use the new photo picker.
Android’s new photo picker was introduced in Android 13, allowing apps to retrieve photos and videos from your device. only What you choose. In addition to giving apps access to the full library, the new solution also allows Android to effectively pass user-selected photos to apps.
This is a great effort to protect privacy, but it hasn’t been widely adopted.
According to reports Android permissionsGoogle has started cracking down on apps that use . READ_MEDIA_IMAGES and/or READ_MEDIA_VIDEO Give permission “unnecessarily”. Google said at I/O earlier this year that it would start preventing apps from using these (starting with Android 13), but it has started enforcing this policy within the past month. Developers can submit a declaration form to continue using these permissions for approved use cases, but the policy is expected to be fully effective by January next year.
Google enforces this policy for apps that don’t. need Accessing photos and videos that you don’t need to access often or that you need to access on a one-time basis (such as setting a profile picture). On a support page with a full timeline, Google describes the app as having “broad access” to photos and videos:
Examples of infrequent or one-time use cases include apps in the social, communications, and photo/video editing categories, or those with broader access needs such as photo editing, user-generated content platforms, image search capabilities, QR, etc. There are other apps as well. code scanner etc.
Once this policy goes into effect, we’re likely to see more and more apps adopt the new photo picker on Android, especially as we head into early next year.
Apps that continue to require broad access without meeting Google’s access guidelines will no longer be able to publish app updates on Google Play until they meet the new policies.
Android details:
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