Google is implementing a significant change to the Play Store and how apps manage privacy: announced a few months ago, it is basically the counterpart to the “labels” that Apple has been offering for a couple of years and which are based solely on information provided by Google. developers. In concrete terms, it means that the page in the Play Store no longer shows the list of permissions generated automatically, but only offers a link to the “Data security” with the information provided by the developer.
It is important to note that the two implementations are not exactly a substitute for each other. The new method explains to the user the type of data collected and how it is handled, while the old is a more analytical and pragmatic list of resources that the application has access to. Simplifying a lot, you could say: the old method says “this app accesses the camera”, the new one says “we collect photos to personalize your account”.
The key difference between the two implementations is that with the old Google era in charge of determining what permissions the app required, now all trust is in the developers. Google naturally says it will verify the developers’ claims and take action if discrepancies occur, but it also makes it clear that only developers have all the information to declare how the data collected by apps is used.
Since the two “labels” are not perfectly superimposed on each other, it could be argued that Google has in fact hidden information from the user that is useful for evaluating their privacy. Moreover, the old permissions are still established and saved on the Play Store, but they are simply not visible. In fact, they appear if you install the alternative Aurora Play Store client, which is open-source and can be downloaded from the official site; but realistically it is a path that few will travel.
