One of the best Android 12 features is the new privacy dashboard that lets you keep an eye on apps accessing sensitive permissions. Although Google will not officially bring this feature to older Android phones, India-based developer Rushikesh Kamewar has released a free app with the same name. Dubbed Privacy Dashboard, this app lets you monitor camera, location and microphone permissions on any phone. That said, let’s see how you can get Android 12’s Privacy Dashboard on any Android phone.
Get Android 12’s Privacy Dashboard on Any Phone (2021)
You can use the Privacy Dashboard app on phones running Android 7.0 (Nougat) and higher. If your phone is running a compatible Android version, here’s how to download and use the Privacy Control Panel without upgrading to Android 12. It also saves you the hassle of buying a new smartphone that will get the Android 12 update later on when it’s released. this year.
Download Privacy Control Panel App
As mentioned above, we will be using a free app called Privacy Dashboard to replicate Android 12’s privacy clipboard feature on older phones. The app is available for free and the developer promises to keep it ad-free. If you find the app useful, don’t forget to donate to support development via in-app purchase.
download Privacy Control Panel from Play Store (Free, offers in-app purchases)
Install Privacy Control Panel App on Your Android Phone
When you open the Privacy Dashboard app for the first time, allow location access and accessibility permissions. Logging location app usage requires location permission access, while tracking camera and microphone usage by apps on your phone requires accessibility permission.
1. To allow location access, Tap on “Allow Access” Under location access and allow permission from the popup that appears. Depending on the Android version of your device, you will see the option to allow location permission anytime or while using the app.
2. Next, you must allow accessibility permission for the app to access camera and microphone usage on your device. To do this, tap on it. “Open Settings” button Under Accessibility Setting. You will now be taken to your phone’s Settings app. Find the app and tap on it to grant accessibility permission.
3. When you open the special accessibility page for Privacy Dashboard, Enable the “Use Privacy Clipboard” toggle and tap “Allow”. You are now ready to use the application.
4. After installing the app, you will see a persistent “app is running in the background” notification. To disable this notification, open the app, tap on App Settings and Tap “Hide notification”. Here, disable All “Privacy Dashboard” notifications toggle. You can long press the notification to get to this settings page quickly. In the meantime, if you’re getting spam notifications on Android frequently, check out our linked guide on how to disable them.
Using the Privacy Control Panel App on an Android Phone
1. After installing the application, you will see a graphic representing the following on the home page. Camera, microphone and location usage in the last 24 hours. You can tap Location, Camera, or Microphone at the bottom of the graph to view the corresponding timelines.
You can control when an app starts using a certain permission and when it stops. You can also choose to receive notification alerts when an app accesses sensitive permission.
2. If you notice an app that shouldn’t have access to the camera, microphone, or location, Tap the “manage permission” pill This way you can change permissions for apps that might be using the permissions unnecessarily.
There is a limitation in the application though. Since the Privacy Dashboard app focuses on apps running in the foreground, the developer can may accidentally log apps running through the main appsometimes say keyboard app or launcher instead of main app.
3. The app is also an optional privacy indicator You can customize it to change the position, size, opacity, frame margin, and more. To enable Android 12-like privacy indicators on your phone, you can enable the privacy indicator toggle in the app’s settings. You also have the option to prevent certain apps from appearing in the log.
4. When enabled, here’s how privacy indicators will appear when an app is using camera, microphone, or location permissions.
Get Privacy Control Panel on Old Android Phones
This is how you can get the Privacy Control Panel on phones that may not receive the Android 12 update. If you are interested in other Android 12 features, we have a list of Android 12 features that you can use on any Android phone. On the other hand, if you are more interested in iOS 15 features, check out our linked article on how to get iOS 15 features on Android right now.