Google to bring back app permissions list on Play Store after backlash

After receiving backlash for removing the app permissions section from the Play Store, Google has decided to restore it. The section required developers to list all permissions their app was going to ask from users to perform its different functions. It was introduced to make apps more transparent about the level of access they have on an Android device through these permissions. 

A consolidated list gave users insights into the privacy practice of apps before they decided to download them. 

“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,” Google’s Android developers team said in a Twitter post on July 21. 

The app permissions list was removed after Google introduced a new section called Data Safety in its place in April. This section shows how developers are collecting data and who they are sharing it with. It also tells what sort of data an app is collecting from users and whether users can request them to delete the data. It was Google’s attempt to catch up with Apple in terms of providing users with sufficient information on how their data is being collected and shared by app developers. 

In December 2020, Apple introduced something called privacy labels that required developers to provide a summary of their data privacy practice on the App Store and disclose what sort of data their app was collecting from users. 

The Android Developers team said in a follow-up Twitter post that the Data safety section provides a simplified view of how an app collects, shares, and secures user data. However, “we also want to make app permissions information easily viewable for users to understand an app’s ability to access specific restricted data & actions too.”