Android P May Not Let Idle Apps Access Your Phone’s Camera

The next major Android platform update is currently referred to as “Android P” since the dessert name hasn’t been revealed as yet, Google hasn’t even detailed Android P officially but that could happen in the not too distant future. However, given the open source nature of Android, some hints about the features this version of Android will offer have surfaced. The latest suggests that Android P will improve security by not allowing idle apps to access your device’s camera.

An Android Open Source Project commit has been spotted with the new rule-sets in Android P preventing apps idling in the background from accessing the camera. This will prevent malicious apps running in the background from making use of the camera to capture victims in a compromising position by accessing the camera without their knowledge.

This will be enforced by tracking the apps’ User IDs. It’s an identifier that’s assigned by Android to each app when it’s installed and the UID remains the same as long as the app is installed on the device.

If the camera service in Android P detects that a UID is “idle,” meaning that the device is in Doze state, it will generate an error and prevent access to the camera. If the inactive UID makes subsequent camera requests an error will be immediately generated thus not allowing it to tap into the camera.

Google hasn’t confirmed any features of Android P as yet so it may be a while before we get official word from the company about this.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: android p, Google