Camera apps that ask for too much: how to check what your Android apps can see

Years ago we warned about popular camera apps that asked for far more access than taking photos requires. The pattern has not gone away: free filter, scanner and flashlight apps still request contacts, location or access to all of your photos, sometimes to sell advertising data rather than to run any feature you use.

The good news is that Android now makes it much easier to see what an app can do, and to limit it.

How Android permissions work today

Since Android 6, apps must ask for sensitive permissions such as the camera, microphone, location and contacts while you use them, and you can refuse. Newer versions added more control:

• An indicator appears at the top of the screen whenever an app is using the camera or microphone (Android 12 and later).
• The privacy dashboard shows which apps used location, camera and microphone in the last 24 hours (Android 12 and later).
• Permissions of apps you have not opened for a few months are removed automatically (Android 11 and later).
• The photo picker lets you share only the pictures you choose instead of your whole library (Android 13 and later, with partial access added in Android 14).

Check your apps in five minutes

• Open Settings, then Security and privacy (or Privacy), then the permission manager. The exact names differ by phone maker.
• Go through Camera, Microphone, Location, Contacts and Photos and videos. For each app, ask whether the permission matches what you use it for.
• Set location to "Only while using the app" unless you need it in the background, and turn off precise location for apps that only need your city.
• Open the privacy dashboard and look for apps that used the camera or microphone when you were not using them.
• Uninstall apps you no longer use. It is the simplest way to take every permission back at once.

Before you install the next one

The Play Store shows a "Data safety" section for each app, where developers describe what they collect and share. Read it before installing, and be wary of a simple utility that collects location, contacts or identifiers for advertising. Keep Google Play Protect turned on, and prefer the camera app that came with your phone: it can usually do what the popular filter apps do without asking for anything more.