Android's never-ending battle with shady apps that seek to harvest data out of users' devices won't end anytime soon. Due to the sheer number of devices and software variants, it can get a tad overwhelming. Despite several security measures being baked into the software over the years, Android continues to see its share of security breaches from time to time. A lot of apps abuse Android permissions to gain access to data that is non-critical to its functionality. Android 10 let users fine-tune app permissions even more by letting them determine just how often an app has access to permissions such as Location, Camera and Microphone access, and Storage. Now, Android 11 seeks to tighten those restrictions further.

Android 10's 'one time only' option to grant permissions to apps was a much-needed step towards enhancing privacy. Yes, it can get a bit annoying as the app will ask you for permission every single time you run it. One extra tap every time you run an app is a small price to pay to ensure that your data doesn't get harvested willy nilly. However, the 'one time only' option was not available for apps that requested Microphone and Camera access, which is rather puzzling, considering that these are two of the most sensitive components of any smartphone.

Android Central states that this is set to change with Android 11, and you'll be permitted to grant apps access to your camera and microphone on a per-use basis. Sure, you could have this happen to you with Stock apps sometimes, but I'll take the increase permissions flexibility any day.

Now, these changes will not magically make Android1 1 impenetrable. Security holes will exist, and apps will continue to use exploits to gain access to otherwise prohibited areas of the phone. At the very least, this will badly-designed apps from harvesting and selling your data to the highest bidder.