Setup Privacy Dashboard App on Your Android Phone
When you open the Privacy Dashboard app for the first time, you will need to allow location access and accessibility permissions. Location permission access is required to log location app usage, while accessibility permission is required to keep track of camera and microphone usage by apps on your phone.
1. To permit location access, tap on “Allow Access” under Location access and allow the permission from the pop-up that appears. Based on your device’s Android version, you will see the option to allow location permission all the time or while using the app.As mentioned above, we will be using a free app called Privacy Dashboard to replicate Android 12’s privacy dashboard feature on older phones. The app is available for free, and the developer promises to keep it ad-free as well. If you find the app useful, do not forget to donate to support the development through in-app purchases.
Download Privacy Dashboard from Play Store (Free, offers in-app purchases)2. Next, you should allow accessibility permission for the app to access the camera and microphone usage on your device. To do that, tap on the “Open Settings” button under Accessibility Setting. You will now be taken to your phone’s Settings app. Locate the app and tap on it to provide accessibility permission.2. Next, you should allow accessibility permission for the app to access the camera and microphone usage on your device. To do that, tap on the “Open Settings” button under Accessibility Setting. You will now be taken to your phone’s Settings app. Locate the app and tap on it to provide accessibility permission.3. Once you open the dedicated accessibility page for Privacy Dashboard, enable the “Use Privacy Dashboard” toggle and tap on “Allow”. You are now all set to use the app.4. After setting up the app, you will see a persistent “app is running in the background” notification. To disable that notification, open the app, tap on App Settings, and tap on “Hide notification”. Here, disable the All “Privacy Dashboard” notifications toggle. You can also long-press the notification to quickly reach this settings page. Meanwhile, if you often get spam notifications on Android, check our linked guide on how to disable them.You can check when an app started using a particular permission and when it stopped. Moreover, you can also choose to get notification alerts when an app accesses sensitive permission.
2. If you notice an app that shouldn’t have access to the camera, mic, or location, tap on the “Manage permission” pill at the bottom of the screen to go to your phone’s permission manager page. This way, you can tweak permissions for apps that might be using permissions unnecessarily.There’s one limitation to the app, though. Since the Privacy Dashboard app focuses on apps running in the foreground, the developer points out that it may mistakenly log apps running over the main app, say the keyboard app or the launcher, at times instead of the main app.3. The app also comes with an optional privacy indicator that you can customize to change the position, size, opacity, bezel margin, and more. You can enable the privacy indicator toggle from the app’s settings to enable Android 12-like privacy indicators on your phone. You also have the option to exclude specific apps from showing up in the log.4. Once enabled, here’s how the privacy indicators will look like when an app is using the camera, microphone, or location permissions.
Get Privacy Dashboard on Older Android Phones
So, that’s how you can get the Privacy Dashboard on phones that may not receive Android 12 update. If you are interested in other Android 12 features
