Google Bringing the Android App Permissions Section Back to the Play Store

Google on Thursday said it’s backtracking on a recent change^[1]
that removed the app permissions list from the Google Play Store
for Android across both the mobile app and the web.

“Privacy and transparency are core values in the Android
community,” the Android Developers team said^[2]
in a series of tweets. “We heard your feedback that you find the
app permissions section in Google Play useful, and we’ve decided to
reinstate it. The app permissions section will be back
shortly.”

To that end, in addition to showcasing the new Data safety
section that offers users a simplified summary of an app’s data
collection, processing, and security practices, Google also intends
to highlight all the permissions required by the app to make sense
of its “ability to access specific restricted data and
actions.”

The reinstatement comes as the internet giant moved to swap out
the apps permission section with the newer Data safety labels last
week ahead of the enforcement deadline on July 20, 2022, which
requires developers to provide information about “how they collect
and handle user data for the apps they publish on Google Play.”

A quick check, however, shows that apps like Tor Browser,
Discord and those from Amazon, including its namesake app, Kindle,
Alexa, Amazon Music, and Amazon Photos, continue to not include a
Data safety section.

The new system also comes with its own set of problems in that
it completely relies on the developers to make “complete and
accurate declarations,” potentially leading to scenarios where it
could be misleading or flat-out inaccurate.

In contrast, the apps permission list is derived from the
permissions declared by the developer in an app’s manifest file^[3].

It’s worth noting that the Apple App Store has a similar policy
in place for its privacy “nutrition” labels that allows developers
to highlight^[4]
“self‑reported summaries of some of their privacy practices,” a
method that, as a report^[5]
from The Washington Post found, “falls short of being helpful.”

Google, however, states in its support documentation^[6]
that it may take appropriate enforcement action if it runs into
cases where there is a discrepancy between app’s behavior and its
declaration.