If you’ve ever felt forced to hand over your call logs or messages just to use a simple fitness app, HONOR says it has a fix. The company is rolling out a new feature called Virtual Permissions, and it does exactly what the name suggests.
Instead of giving a suspicious app real access to your personal information, Virtual Permissions lets you grant a blank version instead. That means the app gets empty call logs, fake message histories, or pretend camera access. You can still use the app normally, but your actual private data stays safe.
HONOR says the feature works on a low system level, so it should work with almost any app. The system basically tricks the app into thinking it has the permissions it asked for, while feeding it nothing but empty data.
The update comes with MagicOS version 10.0.0.160. HONOR started distributing this update to eligible phones this month. The company first announced the feature on Weibo for users of the Chinese version of MagicOS. But tech observers say there’s no clear reason why HONOR wouldn’t bring the same feature to its global smartphones down the line.
For now, users who have a compatible HONOR device and receive the latest update can turn on Virtual Permissions for specific apps through the settings menu. It’s a simple idea, but one that could give people a lot more control over who gets to see what on their devices.