Suppose you’ve just downloaded an app on your Samsung device for your personal or enterprise use. In most cases, when you download an app, it will request access to some services on your device including contacts, camera, microphone, location, and calendar among others. Unfortunately, these permissions can also expose you to privacy breaches, security risks, and potential legal liabilities, particularly if you’re running a business. This is where managing app permissions on Android devices like Samsung devices comes in handy.
In this guide, we’ll tell you why app permission settings on Android matters, plus the steps to help you manage app permissions and regain control over which services and data each app can access on your device.
Regardless of if you’re using Samsung devices for enterprise or personal use, app control management does come in handy for a number of reasons. Here are some of the reasons to control app permission settings on Android devices like Samsung:
Privacy: Controlling app permissions on data-sharing platforms like social media apps ensures that private information stored in those devices cannot be easily shared or accessed by authorized users.
Security: App permission control can significantly improve device and data security. You can prevent the installation of harmful apps from untrusted sources or access to certain sensitive information unless you are an authorized user.
Prevents Unwanted Behavior: You can also prevent device users, say employees from using certain apps at work. This limits them to work-related activities and helps prevent them from indulging in unwanted behaviors in the workplace. In a nutshell, this boosts productivity.
Enables Better App Management: With app permission control, employees/users can effectively utilize target apps for better productivity. For example, since other distractive apps are limited, they can focus on important apps that help the enterprise achieve better results and growth.
2How to Manage App Permissions on Android?
The beauty is that you can manage app permission settings on Android. Yes, Android provides inbuilt functionality to help you manage app permissions based on your needs.
In the case of Samsung devices, it lets you manage app permissions using either the Allow only while using the app, Ask Every Time, or Don’t Allow option. Let’s take a peek into how you can manage app permissions on your Samsung device:
1Give App permissions
One of the common ways to manage your app permissions on Android is by giving app permissions when downloading and installing a new app on your device.
During the app installation process, you will often be prompted to choose preferred app permission settings as default app usage settings.
However, there might be many permissions you don’t really need when using the app. To check and maybe edit these permissions during installation, navigate as follows:
Step 1.Open the target app on Google Play and scroll down to the “Data Safety” section.
Step 2.Tap the arrow next to this data safety feature and subsequently select the “Data Collected” option. This should give you a list of personal data the app will collect as well as respective permissions.
Step 3.Simply tap on the data type to reveal the permissions related to that app. If you see “Optional” next to it, it means the app doesn’t need that permission to function/run.
2Change App Permissions
Sometimes, you might be fed up with the frequent prompts asking you whether you want to enable permissions every time you want to use the respective app. Additionally, you could probably have made the wrong permission choices when you downloaded the app and these permissions are annoying.
If you are experiencing these scenarios, you should consider changing app permission settings on Android to reflect your needs.
For Samsung users, you can change the app permissions on already installed apps as follows.
Step 1.Open your Samsung phone and tap the “Settings” icon to access its menu. From the menu, select the app you want to change its permissions then choose the “Permissions” option.
Step 2.You should now enter the “App Permissions” screen. Here, choose the specific app permission you want to change and you will see three permission options.
Option 1:
Select a suitable permission and it will be affected. From now on, you won’t see those annoying pop-ups asking you how you want to use your app every time you open it.
Option 2:
If you want to change app permission settings on Android for all your apps at the same time, you can change them as follows.
Step 1.On your Samsung device, head to the “Settings” icon then choose the “Apps” option from the menu displayed. Now, go to the top-right corner of the subsequent screen and click the three vertical dots.
Step 2.From the options given, select “Permission Manager”. You should now see a list of permissions offered by your Samsung device.
Select the permission you want to edit then choose a suitable permission option. You can choose the allow all the time, allow only while using the app, ask every time, or deny options.
It is important to note that these steps might vary depending on the model or software version of the Samsung device you are using. Nevertheless, the differences are not that huge and you can easily translate these procedures to various models with ease.
3Check Allowed Permissions on Android
Another way to manage permissions on your Samsung device is by checking the permissions you have allowed on your device.
Checking the allowed permissions gives you a full view of the permissions on your devices and lets you know whether your device/data runs any privacy/security risks. You can then decide to change the settings (if you feel it is necessary) to improve your device security/privacy.
If you are using a Samsung phone, follow the steps below to check all the allowed permissions on your Android phone.
Step 1.On your Samsung phone, go to the “Settings” tab followed by “Security & Privacy”.
Step 2.In the subsequent screen, select “Privacy” then “Permission Manager”. You should now see a list of permissions alongside the number of apps attached to that particular permission.
Step 3. Now, select a permission and you should see specific apps that have been given and those that have not been given that permission. You can then choose to change the permission settings based on your needs.
3Special App Permissions You Need to Notice
Your Android device has several app permissions. However, there are certain often-used permissions on your Android devices that you cannot afford to ignore. Since these app permissions are frequently used, it is important to manage them to protect the privacy/security of your device/data. Some of these frequently used permission apps on your Android device include:
Location Permission:
It allows apps to access your location information. It not only lets you access an approximate location but also a precise location in the foreground. This can be used for map navigation and weather updates.
Camera:
This permission allows your apps to access the camera and take pictures or videos. This is useful, especially for video streaming apps like Zoom or media sharing platforms like WhatsApp.
Contacts:
This permission lets your Android apps read your contacts, find accounts on your device, and modify the contacts on your devices. Such permissions could be useful with apps that save or retrieve contacts from your contacts.
Microphone:
Microphone permission permits your apps to record audio from your device. This permission can be useful if you want to record audio for sharing on social platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger among others.
Calendar:
Calendar permission lets your apps read calendar events and details. It allows apps to read, create, edit, and remove your calendar events. This permission is useful for event planning, management, and scheduling apps.
4Tips: Manage App permissions on Android in Bulk
Managing app permission settings on Android for one or a few devices might not be challenging.
However, if you have multiple devices, say for your enterprise, then managing app permissions across these multiple devices can be a hassle. It is even worse if these devices are located in different geographical locations.
Luckily, there are solutions like going for an enterprise-grade MDM solution like AirDroid Business that gives you a seamless and effective platform to manage app permissions on Android in bulk.
AirDroid Business lets you conveniently manage app permissions across different Android devices from a single console. You can manage specific apps on multiple devices or multiple apps on different Android devices at once without touching the end device.
Here you can follow the steps to manage applications' permissions with AirDroid Business:
Step 1:
Download the App from the Managed Google Play Store to the Samsung
In the first step, the only action you need to perform is to release the applications from the Google Play Store to the business devices (Only work for GMS devices). The applications can be downloaded to the company-owned Samsung device groups. This can be done by selecting app library >> Managed Google Play store >> Add app >> Select app.
Step 2:
Open "Settings"
When you are done with the release of the app from the Google Play Store, you can then manage the app permissions settings for the existing applications. For that, you need to go to the “settings”. These permissions can include many permissions such as location, Camera, Calendar, Contacts, Microphone etc. It then depends upon you if you allow the permission, deny it, or allow the user of the device to be able to give that permission to the application.
Frequent Asked Questions
Why Some Apps Can't Function After Permissions Are Denied?
Maverick
Certain permissions may partly or fully affect the functionality of the app. When an app stops working after permissions are denied, it often means the app is entirely dependent on that denied permission to function. For example, if you disable location on maps, the maps app won’t run on your device.
When you open the app with Google Play and head to the “Data Collected” section, you can check whether that permission can make the app stop functioning or not. If the permission is classified as “Optional” then it cannot stop the app from functioning when disabled.
How to Restore Accidentally Changed Permission Settings?
Maverick
Navigate to Settings>Apps> App Name>Permissions. Here, you can edit the permissions to the initial settings.
Reset the app’s permission to default permission settings. To do so, go to Settings>Apps>Reset App Preferences. However, this method can reset the preferences you don’t want to be reset.
The Impact of Permission Management on Battery Life?
Maverick
Permission Management can prolong the battery life of your Android device especially when you deny/limit the usage of certain apps through permissions. This is useful especially when dealing with enterprise devices.
If you use an app permission management tool like AirDroid Business, for example, you can deny permissions to certain power-hungry apps on multiple enterprise devices to prolong their battery life and encourage productivity.
For more than 8 years, Maverick has dig deep into IT and mobile device management. He delivers practical MDM solution tips and strategies for various endpoints management.
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