Google Play Won't Remove Permissions Lists After All

pcmag.com:

Google has decided not to remove the "Permissions" section from Google Play's app pages.

That section, which tells Android users what kinds of data an app will ask to access so they can make informed decisions about installing the app in question, was poised to be removed from Google Play when the new "Data Safety" section was introduced on July 20.

This proved to be a controversial decision. Data Safety is subjective—Google is trusting Android developers to be honest with the information provided in that section—but Permissions is objective. Why replace one with the other instead of just including both sections?

Google acknowledged these concerns on Twitter on July 21:

This seems like a good thing for Android users. Rather than being forced to use third-party Google Play clients to access the Permissions section, they can keep using the official app store, with the added benefit of having additional information from the Data Safety section.

Google says(Opens in a new window) it "will continue to take in feedback and work closely with the developer community to prioritize data privacy and transparency for users." More information about the Data Safety section is available via a support article(Opens in a new window) intended for Android devs publishing to Google Play.

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