GrapheneOS will fix this with App Communication Scopes
https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/111359936037411368
Once it's ready and deployed, it will not only restrict IPC, but also app visibility
I guess profiles also help?
Yeah. You can use the Private Space or a work profile as well.
Is there an update since that post in 2023?
There have been multiple updates, but I can’t find them because the search feature on Mastodon sucks. I also picked this post, because it includes a screenshot.
What's the summary. Is it likely to come any time soon or is it pretty tricky to implement?
It's definitely tricky to implement, which is why they don't provide a time estimate. But they're working on it.
The last I saw they basically canceled because its too hard to implement. They may look at another way to implement it through profiles similar to the the work profile.
Edit: https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/113973056128380064
They're basically not working on it anymore it seems https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/113973056128380064
I just had a look through my apps, surprisingly all of my apps are well behaved minus the banking apps
Privacy Breacher hasn't been updated in four years and is still able to list all the apps on an Android device without any permissions.
PrivacyBreacher is an Android app built as a proof of concept for a research article describing the privacy issues in Android. This app can access the following information from your phone without requesting any permissions: Figure out at what time your phone screen turned on/off. Figure out at what time you plugged in or removed your phone charger and wired headphones. Figure out at what time you switched on/off your phone (i.e., it captures the device uptime and ACTION_SHUTDOWN broadcasts). Access most of your device related information like your phone model, manufacturer etc. Keep track of your WiFi/Mobile data usage. Get a list of all the apps installed on your phone. Construct a 3D visualization of your body movements.
Yikes. This seems such a big privacy concern, what an embarrassment from google.
but at least it was a good excuse to destroy apps relying on linux procfs (/proc)
checked the code and it just queries the package manager as usual.
it works because the system tries to maintain compatibility with apps made for older android versions (targetsdk). this app was built for api 29 (android 10), and the query apps permission gating was introduced in api 30 (android 11)
the play store is strict about the min targetsdk allowed for new apps and updates, and while that is also a negative thing, api 29 cannot be targeted anymore for apps: https://web.archive.org/web/20250331021653/https://developer.android.com/google/play/requirements/target-sdk
Good to know! I did see the "built for an older version of Android" warning in F-Droid. Thanks for your research!
Android and privacy are incongruent.
The reasons the article gives are because android chooses not to be an intermediate.
This is why we Foss
Welcome! This is a community for all those who are interested in protecting their privacy.
PS: Don't be a smartass and try to game the system, we'll know if you're breaking the rules when we see it!
Some of these are only vaguely related, but great communities.