How to Prevent Android From Sharing Your Physical Activity With Third-Party Apps
For the most part, Android is getting better , but it certainly isn’t immune to the privacy issues that plague every operating system and smartphone. And as it turns out, in a recent update, Google built a dubious feature into the operating system. A new permission called “activity recognition” can track and share your physical activity with third-party apps, and there is no easy way to stop it.
What is activity recognition?
The permission for “activity recognition” was posted on Reddit earlier this week. Basically, it allows Google to track your physical activity (cycling, running, standing) using your phone’s built-in sensors, and then share that information with third-party apps.
SoundHound and Shazam seem to be using this permission, although it’s unclear why. Activity recognition also belongs to the list of “other” permissions, so it won’t show up when you update the app on your phone. The only way to check this is to go to each app on your device and see all of its permissions.
How to deal with it
There is also no way to revoke this specific permission for either all or individual apps. If this is an application that you do not use very often, you can always remove it from your phone to avoid sharing your personal information. One Reddit user also suggested preventing these apps from running in the background.
Unfortunately, there is currently no easy way to deal with activity recognition. Hopefully Google will eventually come up with a fix, but until then, you might just have to admit that owning a smartphone means giving up your privacy.