Use the Android privacy dashboard to check photo and camera access in two minutes

Permissions are easy to grant and easy to forget. You allow camera access to scan one code, location access for one delivery, and months later those apps still have them. The privacy dashboard is Android’s answer: one screen that shows what apps have actually been doing with your permissions, not just what they’re allowed to do.

Open the dashboard

You need Android 12 or later.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Security and privacy or Privacy. On some phones you tap Privacy a second time.
3. Tap Privacy dashboard.

If your phone maker has moved it, search Settings for “privacy dashboard”.

Read it

The dashboard groups activity by permission: camera, microphone, location, and others the phone tracks. The time window depends on your version:

• Android 12 shows the last 24 hours.
• Android 13 and later show the last 7 days.

Tap a permission, such as Camera, to see a timeline of which apps used it and when. Tap an app in the list to open its permission page, where you can switch the permission off or limit it.

A two-minute routine

1. Camera. Every app on the list should be one you opened to take a photo, scan something or make a video call. Background use you don’t recognize is the thing to question.
2. Microphone. Same test. Voice assistants and call apps are expected. A flashlight app isn’t.
3. Location. Look for apps using location while you weren’t using them. Change those to Allow only while using the app or Ask every time.
4. Photos. The dashboard may not cover photo access. Check it separately: Settings, then Security and privacy, then Privacy controls or Permission manager, then Photos and videos. You’ll see every app that can read your photos. Narrow each one, as described in the Android photo picker explained.

Watch for the indicator

Whenever an app uses the camera or microphone, Android shows a small green indicator in the top corner of the screen. Swipe down and tap it to see which app is using it and to manage access. If the indicator appears when you aren’t using an app that needs it, open the dashboard and find out which one.

Some phones also have quick-settings tiles that switch off camera or microphone access for all apps at once. They’re useful in meetings or at home, but remember to switch them back on.

What the dashboard can’t tell you

• What an app did with a photo after you shared it. Permissions control access, not what happens next.
• Activity older than its window. For a longer history, check regularly.
• Accessibility and device admin apps. Apps with these powers can see more than ordinary permissions allow. Check Settings, then Accessibility, and the device admin list, for anything you didn’t add. If you suspect monitoring software, see signs someone went through your phone.

Photos and location together

Camera access usually comes with location in the photos themselves. Even after you tidy permissions, older photos may still carry where they were taken. The fix is covered in remove location from photos, and a wider permission audit is in which apps can see your photos.

Silo, coming soon to iPhone and Android, asks for photo access only to let you choose what to import, has no ads or ad tools, and encrypts what you import on the phone. It doesn’t ask for camera or microphone access.