To a extent that will affect millions of smartphone users, Google is removing a key Android feature amid privacy issues.
According to a report published on Android Police, Android 11, the next edition of the world’s most popular cellular operating system, it will save you third-party camera software apps to take pictures. Instead, you’ll want to use your phone’s default built-in camera app.
When taking photos, existing versions of Android allow apps to demonstrate a contextual camera or from which the user can use their favorite camera app. However, this option has been removed on Android 11.
This means that users who have installed popular camera apps like VSCO, Adobe Lightroom, or A Better Camera will have to go back to their phone’s built-in camera software when they take photos or videos from some other app. Users will be able to use any camera app they need when launching it directly. Only the camera variety option is affected.
The new restriction exists to prevent applications from entering your location without permission. Even if an app has been denied access to its location data, it is still possible to circumvent that restriction when using third-party camera applications.
The challenge is that camera programs integrate location knowledge into their symbol files and, without the new restriction, there is no way to prevent that data from being returned to the app’s calls with the photo.
While you might perceive Google’s reasoning here, the existing solution turns out to be an inconvenience that absolutely doesn’t solve the problem. Turning off the camera selector does not prevent images, with built-in location data, from being downloaded from the gallery.
Anyone who upgrades to a new edition of Android will be surprised and frustrated by finding such a convenient feature removed. So I hope that a more sublime solution can be discovered as soon as possible. An undeniable way for complex users to reactivate the camera selector would probably work well.
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I have applied as a generation journalist since the early 1990s. My hobby is the ever-changing photography and hardware that we use to create it, to be
I have applied as a generation journalist since the early 1990s. My hobthrough is the ever-changing photography and hardware and software we use to create it, whether it’s classic cameras and Photoshop or smartphones and tablets with their multiple applications. I have also worked extensively on PC titles such as PC Magazine and Personal Computer World and controlled PCW hardware verification labs. This led me to review and read about all kinds of print and online technologies. I take care of written and photographic works and you can contact questions, recommendations or arguments via email. Find me on Instagram @paul_monckton.