How Android removes permissions from apps you don't use

Most phones collect apps the way drawers collect cables. A photo editor you tried once, a scanner from a job application, a game a child played on a long trip. Each one asked for permissions when you installed it, and each one would keep them for years if nothing changed. Android changes that automatically: once an app goes unused for long enough, the phone takes back what it was given.

What Android does to an unused app

According to the official help page, when you haven’t used an app for a long time, Android will:

• revoke its permissions, such as access to photos, camera, microphone, location and contacts
• delete its temporary files to free up space
• stop it running in the background
• stop it sending notifications

The app itself stays installed, with its saved data. If you open it again, it works as before and asks for any permissions it needs, just like the first time.

Reports put the threshold at roughly three months without use. It’s measured from when you last opened the app, not from when you installed it.

Why it matters for your photos

Photo access is one of the most sensitive permissions an app can hold. An app with full access to your photos can read every picture and video in your gallery, along with the location and time stored in each one. Many apps ask for it for a single task and never need it again.

Automatic revocation means a forgotten app can’t keep reading your gallery indefinitely. It’s a backstop, not a replacement for checking permissions yourself, because an app you open now and then never counts as unused. For a full review of which apps can see your photos, see which apps can see your photos.

See which apps have been paused

1. Open Settings and tap Apps.
2. Tap Unused apps.

The list shows apps that Android has paused. From there you can open an app’s details, reinstate it by opening it, or uninstall it if you no longer need it. If the list is long, that’s a good prompt to clear out apps you’ve forgotten.

Menu names vary a little between phone makers. If you don’t see Unused apps, search Settings for “unused”.

Keep one app working

Some apps need to work in the background even when you don’t open them, such as an app linked to a home device that sends alerts. To exempt one:

1. Open Settings, then Apps, and choose the app. Or touch and hold its icon and tap App info.
2. Find the Unused apps section.
3. Turn off Pause app activity if unused.

Older Android versions name the switch differently, with wording about removing permissions if the app isn’t used, but it sits in the same place in App info.

Exempt as few apps as you can. Every exemption is an app that keeps its access indefinitely.

What it doesn’t cover

• Apps you open regularly. They keep whatever you’ve allowed. Review those in the privacy dashboard and in the permission manager, which you can find by searching Settings for “permission manager”.
• Photos an app has already copied. Revoking access stops future reading. It doesn’t delete copies the app saved or uploaded earlier.
• Some system and work apps. Certain apps can’t be paused, such as core system apps and apps managed by an employer.
• Spying apps. An app that runs all the time is never unused. See checking for stalkerware on Android.

Giving apps less to begin with

The best permission is one you never grant. On recent Android versions, many apps use the photo picker, which hands over only the photos you select without any gallery permission. When an app does ask for photo access, choosing selected photos rather than all of them limits what it sees. See the Android photo picker explained.

How this affects Silo

Silo, coming soon to iPhone and Android, asks for photo access so you can choose what to import and remove verified originals afterward. If you don’t open Silo for months, Android may take that permission back like any other app’s. Your vault isn’t affected, because it’s encrypted in Silo’s own storage, not in your gallery. Silo simply asks for photo access again the next time you import.