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M66B / XPrivacy

XPrivacy - The ultimate, yet easy to use, privacy manager
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xprivacy-ultimate-android-privacy-app-t2320783
GNU General Public License v3.0
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Feature Request - Provide option to respond with Zero/Null data for sensors #2215

Open wbedard opened 9 years ago

wbedard commented 9 years ago

The current model for XPrivacy allows for providing access to either real or randomized data to a request. While this works well for many/most cases, it may have unintended negative effects when applied to sensor data.

If a user wants to restrict sensor data in order to hide their physical activity from a device/app, the only current option is to provide continuously randomized data. For apps that monitor sensor data, this can have demonstrably negative effects on battery life, especially when restricting persistent services/apps such as Google Play Services.

Providing an ability to respond with zero/null data is currently available for some data types handled by XPrivacy, specifically those listed under the main settings menu or the settings for a specifically restricted app. This seems a logical place to include an additional GUI element to control what type of sensor data is provided to a restricted app.

As this current limitation of XPrivacy doesn't cause wide-spread issues for users, it is suggested here on as a possibility for a future enhacement.

M66B commented 9 years ago

Restricting a sensor currently hides the sensor from an application. This does not consume any battery, on the contrary. Faking sensor data could be useful, but will be low on my to to list.

wbedard commented 9 years ago

Hmmm, thanks for the feedback and clarification on how sensor data is handled. I will do add'l testing to better understand any negative affects on battery life that XPrivacy might be causing.

Cerberus-tm commented 9 years ago

However, GPS does turn on when an application is to receive fake GPS data, if I'm not mistaken? Allowing us to feed an application fake data without using the actual GPS would conceivably save some energy. For some applications, it may be useful to use the GPS to generate a fake location that appears natural, but for most it adds no benefit, right?