How to control your app permissions


Smartphones play such a big role in our lives these days, and in society in general, that it’s difficult to find a time when they aren’t essential in daily life. Smartphones get their name for a reason, and we feel like they are getting smarter every year! As long as they don’t go all Skynet on us, that’s perfectly fine! But, let’s be honest, a smartphone wouldn’t be all that smart, or useful, were it not for the thousands of apps you can use with it.

But, how much do we really know about what our apps are really doing? We have them on our phones, and we use them every day, and it’s important to understand them a little better. Even in the background they can update, pinpoint your location, and do all sorts to make your life that little bit more convenient. However,m in order to do this they require permission from your phone, and here are some of the ways you can control your app permissions.

Android

If you have an Android smartphone you need to go to settings, and then tap on the Apps & notifications – pretty self-explanatory, right? After this it’s ‘App info’ then you need to find the app you’re interested in. If you click on permissions, you’ll be able to find out all the information and features this particular app has. This way you can use the toggling system to turn off some of the features and control; what the apps do. Just make sure you are aware that some apps require certain permissions in order to fulfill their jobs properly. So, if you’re looking to disable some of the app privileges, in a lot of cases, it will actually make more sense to delete the app entirely.

iPhone

On the iOS, you can find out about app permissions in a similar way to how you can on Android. Firstly, you make sure you head to Settings, then tap on Privacy – from here the phone sorts all the permissions by type. You will be able to scroll and find out which particular apps are requesting access to certain permissions. You can then adjust these on an individual basis if you want to, giving you more control over the apps you have. One of the cooler features on iOS is the Background App Refresh option that allows apps to update themselves in the background even when you aren’t using them.

Specific apps

There are also additional things that certain apps might request to do or be programmed to do. For instance, some of them will want to record and log your activity on the app, such as social media apps. This is how they discover the sorts of things you would like, and how they use advertising to their advantage. There are generally privacy policies that come into play when using apps like this, but some, like the Location app on the iPhone, can have privacy settings turned on or off when required. This is why it’s so important to understand what apps do what, and which ones are affected by the

Making full use of apps on your phone is so important, and you will have to make sure you check out the way in which privacy and permission settings work. You want to get the most out of your apps and use them as effectively as possible, but you also want to know the sort of data and information they are recording, and at what points. Using the suggestions and advice on here you can start working toward achieving this a little better.

Recommended For You

The best Mario games

There are some truly iconic video game mascots out there, but none are bigger than Mario. The Italian plumber has

Best niche startup hubs

So you’re looking to establish a company? It’s never been a better time to be a startup because there’s a