this post was submitted on 01 Apr 2025
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Everyone knows all the apps on your phone - by peabee (peabee.substack.com)
submitted 3 weeks ago by effzehkoelle@feddit.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 23 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

So the first line says that it's for older versions of android before 2022. But the next paragraph says:

For extremely specific use cases such as file managers, browsers or antivirus apps, Google grants an exception by allowing QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES permission, which provides full visibility into installed apps.

So this may still be possible, however sandboxing, especially GrapheneOS' implementation likely mostly, if not entirely reduce this risk.

[–] kipo@lemm.ee 9 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Yeah, meaning all newer phones past Android 11 shouldn't have this issue, but they do because of a workaround by shady companies that Google is either not aware of or not addressing. This issue isn't limited to older phones -- quite the opposite.

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today -1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Apologies, I deleted my comment instead of editing it, but I meant to add that even with the shady workaround, if you have sandboxing it likely greatly reduces this risk.

Be very wary of what apps you install, and in fact, try to only use FOSS.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

People need to stop touting FOSS as more secure. More auditable, sure. But there are many, many examples of FOSS applications being insecure or abusive.

The bottom line is just “be wary of what apps you install period.”

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 1 points 3 weeks ago

Sure, but I didn't mean to say that FOSS couldn't be insecure. Software itself can obviously be insecure, like we saw with xz. At least with FOSS though, it's more difficult for it to be hidden.

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