Android 17 gets new contact selection for more data protection
With Android 17, Google is integrating a contact selection. This allows users to share only the contacts and data with apps that are actually necessary.
Android
(Image: Andreas Floemer / heise medien)
With Android 17, which is currently still in Beta 2, Google wants to introduce a contact selection tool – a “Contact Picker” – that will prevent the general granting of all contacts from the address book to apps. Google wants to further improve data protection and user control under Android.
More control
Previously, applications that required access to a specific user's contacts used the broad permission READ_CONTACTS. With one click, apps gained access to the entire address book, even though only a fraction of the data is usually required for use. The new contact selection, which is introduced in Android 17 with the intent ACTION_PICK_CONTACTS, restricts the unrestricted “siphoning” of contact data. For this purpose, the new Android version will have a “standardized, secure, and searchable interface for contact selection”.
(Image:Â Google)
The company explains in the post on the Android Developer Blog that with this function, users can grant apps access only to the contacts they have selected. This corresponds to “Android's claim to data transparency and minimal access scope”.
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Similar approach to the “Photo Picker”
Google explains that the contact selection API in Android 17 offers support for detailed data queries. Apps can request permission to access user contacts as before, but in the new Android version, they can only view the contacts selected by users. The concept is similar to the photo selection tool (“Photo Picker”), which Google introduced in 2022 with Android 13.
Furthermore, these apps can request the specific data fields they need. So, if an app wants access to the phone numbers stored in contacts, it can request this single data field instead of retrieving the entire contact record.
In addition, Android 17 is said to support the selection of one or more contacts simultaneously via the new contact selection, which should simplify the query of permissions for multiple contacts. App developers can also specify how many contacts users can select at the same time. When using this interface, read access to contact records is limited in time. Moreover, the contact selection tool improves access to contacts from various user profiles stored on the device, such as private or work, as well as from cloned profiles and private areas.
Google recommends that app developers query only the contact data fields that are actually needed via the new contact selection for data minimization, “to ensure an optimal user experience and maintain high security standards.” “If your app only needs to send an SMS, request Phone.CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE. Contacts without phone numbers will be automatically filtered out in the selection, leading to a clearer user interface,” the company explains. Google offers the complete documentation on contact selection on the Android Developers website.
The release of the stable version of Android 17 is expected in June 2026.
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