Google is limiting access to SMS, call logs and address books. FILE PHOTO | NMG
The Android operating system that has embedded itself in phones,
wearables and even the automotive industry has created unprecedented
opportunities for independent developers, in-house engineering teams and
software houses that build bespoke software.
The
sheer size of its distribution courtesy of its open source roots and
value addition to original equipment manufacturers has seen it power and
support thousands of businesses with collective revenue attribution in
the billions of dollars annually.
To build sticky
services, developers interact with various aspects of a user’s mobile
device. This access is granted through permissions that must be declared
by the mobile application. The user then needs to accept these requests
for the application to function as it should, or so the unwritten code
goes.
However, with every platform that presents an opportunity for
revenue generation and monetisation there are those that will push the
limits and exploit access for ulterior motives or to support unethical
business practices. There are two ways that this is manifested.
Permission requests
The
first is outright red flags that you have most probably experienced
when consuming one app or another, whose permission requests do not
match with its supposed function. For example a flashlight application
asking for access to your location data.
The second is
where a developer would have a valid defensible reason for requesting
access but thereafter go ahead to abuse the privilege as seen with a
number of lending services that infringe on user privacy riding off
access to a user’s address book to originate messaging in an attempt to
nudge the user toward certain action.
As the platform
trustee for Android, Google has from the onset put in place an app
approval process whose aim is to check and countercheck, even once live
that developers adhere to best practice. In the hunt for returns, legal
or otherwise many developers have continued to push on what would be
considered agreeable.
To this end, Google has tightened controls around permissions,
limiting access to SMS, call logs and address books as the most critical
recent action.
The deadline for remedial action has
now passed and non-compliant applications are being purged from the Play
Store or seeing functionality break. Your favourite banking, taxi
hailing or micro-lending app could have been affected.
Legitimate
businesses should seek compliance not exception as excellent user
experiences will lead to better adoption of services via mobile
applications with users confident in their patronage.
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