Many people say that privacy is slowly becoming a myth now. This fact is especially true in the online world. Apps are becoming the cause of increasing privacy concerns. Apps can gather information about your surroundings mainly through three mediums: the camera, microphone, and location.
However, there is good news as well. You can quickly check which apps have access to these permissions on significant platforms like iOS, Android, and Windows.
It is essential to identify the apps vying for these permissions even though it is unnecessary for them to ask about them. Let us learn what you can do about these apps and how to do it on different operating systems.
iOS
Open the Settings app on your iPhone. After scrolling past the general settings, you will discover a list of apps that you have installed. To learn more about them, tap on any one of them. The screen will display all features and permissions the app is accessing. These include the microphone, camera, and location.
You can turn off the toggle for the microphone and camera from the settings themselves. You can select the ‘Never’ option for the location, which blocks all access to the location. You can also choose ‘Ask Next Time’ if you feel you can give this permission at some point in time. If you choose ‘always,’ the app will learn your location each time, even when running in the background.
Depending upon your trust in the app, you can grant location permission to various apps. If you are super-cautious, you can turn off location services entirely by navigating to privacy and location services.
Android
Open the Settings app and then the privacy options. You will find the location, camera, and microphone permissions there. You can then identify which apps have access to these. If you feel an app doesn’t require a particular approval, you can still revoke it.
There is a different method to view the permissions. Navigate to ‘Apps and Notifications’ from settings and view all apps. View a specific app and look at their ‘permissions.’ You can then alter the access from there. You can also grant permissions that you denied earlier.
You have more control of the settings in Android as compared to iOS. You can set the settings as ‘Allow only while using the app.’ Another option of ‘Ask every time’ is also present. Android has offered these options since it allows installation from external sources, too; that is not the case with iOS.
Windows
Apps don’t have a much extensive role on Windows. That is why you might be less worried about a privacy breach while working on a PC. But still, it is a good idea to learn the activity of your apps.
To proceed, open the start menu and go to settings. Navigate to privacy and then click on ‘General’ on the navigation menu on the left. The first three permissions listed will be location, camera, and microphone. To view which apps have access to the mentioned permissions, you can click on any one of them.
You can disable access to any app that doesn’t require the privileges. You can go the extra mile and disable all camera, microphone, and location permissions. This will hold true across any functions you perform on the operating system.
Another concern that crops up while using a laptop is the use of a webcam. Many users feel that secret agencies or hackers are monitoring them. Most webcams give an indicator whenever they are active. If you want to make sure, you can access the previous settings to learn which apps have accessed your camera recently.
