Google have continued to improve the security of Android over the years and once again they are looking to improve it even more with Android 11. For years now third party camera app developers have been able to use Android intents to allow their app to be added to the app picker so users can choose to the third party camera app to take the picture required.
Everyone would have seen it — you may see it with browser apps too where you can choose which browser app to use to open the link with — but now it is going away for camera apps. Android 11 is bringing a change for apps that ask for photos or videos to be captured.
“… we believe it’s the right trade-off to protect the privacy and security of our users.” — Google Issue Tracker.
Android Police have confirmed with Google (see above quote) that the new change will be made with Android 11 where third party apps will have to use the built in camera app to capture images without being able to search for other options.
Privacy and security are the reasons given for the change and although there is no evidence of users being tricked into using a malicious “camera app” the chance is there so Google is removing that chance. The new change is already in the Android 11 beta so it is expected to make the cut in the final release next month.
While it is not a massive change for most of us there are some who still prefer third party cameras or Gcam ports and for those people this could be annoying but let’s face it, if you want to take a proper picture you are going to do it directly through the camera app of your choice and not through a third party app anyway.
