Google I/O 2021: Android 12 gets iOS 14-like camera and mic indicator, introduces new Privacy Dashboard

For better transparency and giving users more control over their data, Android 12 features a new Privacy Dashboard.

Android 12 features were announced on May 18 at the Google I/O 2021. The new Android update brings with it an all-new design. However, Google’s key emphasis at the Android 12 event was around its privacy. For better transparency and giving users more control over their data, Android 12 features a new Privacy Dashboard.

Privacy Dashboard is a one-stop place to check which apps are accessing your data. The dashboard also gives you more controls so you can make informed choices about how much private information your apps can access. Users can also check what permissions have been granted to these apps.

Google has also added a new iOS 14-like indicator at the top-right corner of the status bar to let users know when an app is accessing their microphone or camera. You can choose to remove app access to these sensors for the entire system.

Android 12 also gives users more control over how much information they share with apps. With new location permissions, apps can be limited to seeing just your approximate location instead of a precise one. For example, the weather app does not need your precise location to offer an accurate forecast.

Beyond these new privacy features in Android 12, Google is also building privacy protections directly into the OS. It will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create helpful new features paired with powerful privacy. To do so, Google has introduced Android Private Compute Core. It lets Google introduce new technologies that are private by design, allowing to keep the user’s personal information safe, private and local to their phone.