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Android 12 was launched to AOSP earlier this month, and it arrived to Pixel phones quite recently. That being said, it brought some changes that we talked about at length on the site. There are a number of privacy-centric features that it delivered, like the Privacy Dashboard, for example. Well, those of you who are worried about privacy, may also want to keep various permissions in check. That is why, in this article, we’ll show you how to view permissions used by apps in Android 12.
Do note that Google didn’t change the location of this menu compared to Android 11. You can still check all those permissions in the same spot. It’s also really simple to do, as you’ll see here. We’ll show you how to do that one step at a time, and you’ll also find some screenshots below. Do note that we’ve used the Pixel 4a to show you this, but it’s the same procedure on every other Pixel handset running Android 12. The procedure should be similar on other Android 12 phones, though perhaps not identical.
How to view permissions used by apps in Android 12
The first thing you’ll need to do is access your phone’s settings. You’ll need to swipe up on the home screen to access the app drawer. There, locate the “Settings” app, and tap it.
In the Settings menu, locate the “Privacy” submenu. That submenu includes permissions, account activity, personal data, and more.
One of the options inside the “Privacy” submenu is the “Permission Manager”, which essentially allows you to control app access to your data.
In there, you’ll see various permissions listed. Those permissions include Body sensors, Calendar, Call logs, Camera, Contacts, Files and media, Location, and so on. In this menu, you’ll see how many apps are allowed to control which permission. So, for example, in my case, location access is allowed for 11 out of 39 apps. Just to be clear, I don’t have 39 apps on my phone, but 39 of them can access the location permission. So, for this tutorial’s sake, let’s tap on the “Location” permission.
As you can see, some apps are allowed to access my phone’s location at all times, while others are allowed to access only while they’re in use. You have complete control over this, though be careful. Decide which apps should have access all the time, and which should not. Also, don’t allow such access to apps that you don’t trust, and so on.
