Google Will Restrict Apps That Request Access to All Your Photos

Google will soon restrict apps that request access to all the photos and videos on a user’s smartphone.

According to a report by Android Authority, Google is introducing a significant update designed to safeguard your photos and videos from malicious or poorly developed Android apps.

The publication reports that Google has started reaching out to app developers to tell them they need to adopt the privacy-preserving Android Photo Picker.

In 2022, Google unveiled the Photo Picker API — a privacy-focused tool that allows apps to access specific photos or videos that the user selects, rather than their entire media library.

The Photo Picker API effectively grants one-time permission or infrequent access to some of a user’s photos or videos.

This feature is designed for apps that only occasionally need access to certain media, ensuring better protection for a user’s personal photos and videos.

However, despite its launch, Google faced significant challenges in getting developers to embrace the new Photo Picker API. Many Android apps continued using the traditional system file picker or their own custom-built pickers, which still require extensive access to users’ photos and videos.

This is reportedly despite the fact that some of these apps don’t even need access to a user’s photos or videos to function properly, and access is often needed only for one time.

According to Android Authority, Google is now reaching out to developers of Android apps that request wide-ranging access to users’ photos and videos. The company will force apps to use Android’s built-in secure photo picker to access users’ pictures.

At Google I/O earlier this year, the company announced that by “early 2025,” only “apps with core functionality relying on accessing the user’s image and/or videos” would be allowed to request full access to camera rolls.

App developers have until the end of the month to justify their need for this broad access or transition to using the Android Photo Picker.

App developers will need to “submit a declaration form to qualify for core use/broad access or remove permissions (if one time/infrequent use case.)” Developers failing to comply will risk being barred from updating their apps on Google Play.

 
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.