Android Privacy Settings: A Checklist That Actually Works

Android buries its privacy controls across several menus, and the names of those menus change depending on your phone maker and Android version. This checklist walks through the controls that matter most on stock Android — the Privacy Dashboard, the Permission Manager, location accuracy, your advertising ID, and Google Play Protect — and flags where Samsung's One UI moves or renames them. Run through it once, and most of the work is done.

Where do I find privacy settings on Android?

On stock Android 13 and later, open Settings > Security & privacy: the Privacy Dashboard and the Permission Manager both sit inside it. On Android 12 and earlier, look for a separate Settings > Privacy menu. On Samsung's One UI, the equivalent entry point is Settings > Security and privacy. Check your version first (Settings > About phone > Android version), because Google's documentation for the privacy dashboard warns: "Important: Some of these steps work only on Android 12 or 13 and up." If a menu described here isn't on your phone, your software version is the usual reason.

What is the Privacy Dashboard and what does it show?

The Privacy Dashboard is the single best starting point because it shows you what's actually happening, not just what's theoretically allowed. According to Android Help, "From the privacy dashboard, you can see which apps are accessing data, which permissions apps are using, and when that access is happening. You can also manage permissions for camera, microphone, calendar, and more." The window of history differs by version: Android 13 keeps 7 days of activity, while Android 12 only shows 24 hours. Open it, scroll through the timeline, and tap any entry to jump straight into that app's permission settings.

How do I manage app permissions on Android?

Beneath the dashboard sits the Permission Manager, organized by permission type rather than by app — tap "Location" and you see every app that can access it, rather than hunting through each app individually. For location, camera, and microphone, Google's Google Play Help describes four access levels, including one unique to location: "All the time: For location only. The app can use the permission at any time, even when you're not using the app." "Only while using the app" is the safer default for any sensitive permission: the app gets access while it's open on screen and loses it in the background, as the same Google Play Help page describes. Set that as your default for anything that doesn't need constant background access.

Android also cleans up after you. The same Google Play Help page points to an "Unused app settings" option that, once turned on, automatically removes permissions from apps you've stopped using. Leave that switch on.

How do I control which apps can access my location?

Location has two separate layers, and it's easy to confuse them. The first is a device-wide setting called Location Accuracy. Per Android Help's location settings guide, this service "uses information from wireless signals, such as Wi-Fi access points, cellular network towers, and GPS, along with device sensor data, such as accelerometer and gyroscope, to allow your device to more quickly and accurately estimate device location, particularly in areas where GPS may be unavailable or obscured, such as indoors or near large buildings." Turning it on generally makes location work better everywhere.

The second layer is per-app precision, and it's independent of the first. The same guide notes: "For Android 12 and higher, you can separately manage each app's precise location permission. This is different from Location Accuracy, which is a location setting for your device that allows the use of more sources for the most accurate location. When Location Accuracy is on, you can grant an app only approximate location permission if you don't want to allow it access to your device's precise location." Practically, this means you can leave Location Accuracy on for your phone while still telling a weather app, say, that it only gets your approximate location rather than your exact coordinates. For more on how location gets attached to the photos and files on your devices, see our piece on managing location permissions on your devices.

What should I do with my advertising ID?

Every Android phone carries an advertising ID that apps use to build a profile of you for targeted ads. Google gives you two different ways to deal with it, and they're not the same thing. Per Google's advertising policy page, resetting it "replaces the current ID with a new one. Apps can still show you personalised ads, but for a while they may not be as relevant or interesting to you" — essentially a fresh start that breaks the link to your old profile without turning tracking off. Deleting it goes further: it "deletes the advertising ID and doesn't assign a new one. Apps can still show you ads, but they may not be as relevant or interesting to you. You won't see ads based on this advertising ID, but you may still see ads based on other factors, like the information you've shared with apps." For the full breakdown of what this identifier is, how it's used, and which option makes more sense for you, read our explainer on what advertising ID is and why to reset or delete it.

How does Google Play Protect keep me safe?

Google Play Protect runs in the background scanning apps for malicious behavior, and on older devices it also polices permissions. Android Help's Play Protect page explains that on phones running Android 6.0 through 10, "Google may reset any permissions that you grant from apps that you haven't used for three months. ... This feature protects devices that run on Android versions 6.0–10." The same page lets you review which apps have had their permissions reset this way and exempt specific ones if you want them to keep running in the background. Even if your phone is newer and this exact mechanism doesn't apply, it's worth opening the Play Protect section at least once to confirm scanning is active and run a manual check.

How does Samsung's One UI move these menus?

Samsung reorganizes the same tools under its own branding, which trips people up if they're following a guide written for Pixel-style Android. According to Samsung Newsroom's Knox Journals post, the entry point is "Settings > Security and privacy," described as a place where "you can quickly and easily change your settings to manage potential dangers at the touch of a button." Inside that dashboard, Samsung's version of the Permission Manager works much like stock Android's: it "easily shows you which apps can access your data — whether it's your location, camera, or microphone and in what context (for example, if it's only when using the app). Permission Usage provides an easy way for you to see specifically which apps recently used permissions in the last 24 hours or seven days," according to the same Samsung Newsroom post.

Samsung also runs its own version of the unused-app permission cleanup. The same Samsung Newsroom post notes that "Apps can continue tracking data for months, even when they are not in use — but Galaxy devices proactively remove permissions from apps that have not been used in a while." It's the same idea as stock Android's unused-app permission removal, built into One UI rather than left to Google's switch.

The checklist

Work through these in order. Most take under a minute each.

1. Find your version first. Open Settings and check whether you have a combined "Security & Privacy" section (Android 13+) or two separate menus (Android 12 and earlier), since this changes where everything below lives.
2. Open the Privacy Dashboard (on Samsung, the Security and Privacy screen's Permission Usage view) and scan the recent activity timeline for any app accessing data in a way that surprises you.
3. Go into the Permission Manager by permission type, starting with location, camera, and microphone, and restrict each sensitive app to using that permission only while the app is open, unless it has a genuine reason for constant background access.
4. Turn on automatic permission removal for unused apps in each app's "Unused app settings," which removes access from apps you've stopped opening — or confirm Samsung's equivalent proactive removal is active if you're on a Galaxy device.
5. Check Location Accuracy separately from app-level location permissions. Leave Location Accuracy on for better overall performance, then restrict individual apps to approximate-only location where precise location isn't necessary.
6. Decide on your advertising ID: reset it for a clean slate that still allows personalized ads, or delete it to stop ads based on that identifier entirely. Read the full ad ID explainer first if you're unsure which fits your situation.
7. Open Google Play Protect and run a manual scan, then review which apps have had their permissions reset for inactivity if your device is on an older Android version where this still applies.
8. If you're on a Samsung phone, repeat the permission and location checks inside Settings > Security and privacy, since Samsung's naming and layout differ from stock Android even though the underlying controls work the same way.

Together these steps cover the biggest gaps: what apps can see, how long they can see it, where you're located, and whether advertisers can track you across apps. The Privacy Dashboard is worth checking again whenever you install a new app, since that's when permissions most often drift.