Google Play is reaching out to many developers to tell them they need to adopt the privacy-preserving Android Photo Picker.
Specifically, Google is contacting developers of Android apps that request broad access to photos and videos.
Google is giving developers until the end of the month to explain why they need broad access to photos and videos or to switch to the Android Photo Picker.
The photos and videos you store on your Android device can reveal a lot about you, which is why it’s really important to carefully choose what apps can access them. The best Android apps don’t request access to your phone’s entire media gallery unless they really need it, but many apps, unfortunately, request broad access to photos and videos when they don’t really need to. Google has been trying to crack down on this issue by offering developers alternative, privacy-preserving methods to access photos and videos, but it’s so far been unsuccessful at getting developers to use them. Soon, though, many app developers will be forced to use Google’s privacy-preserving photo and video picker.
With the launch of Android 13 in 2022, Google introduced the Photo Picker API, a privacy-preserving method for apps to access your photos and videos. By using the Photo Picker API, apps can request access to the photos or videos of your choosing without needing to request permission to access your entire media gallery. It’s intended for apps that have a one-time or infrequent need to access some photos or videos.