Xiaomi MIUI 11 'App Behavior Records' security feature notifies when apps use sensitive permission, in testing currently

In our ever-more connected world our smartphone are our gateway to the world. We have dozens and dozens of apps which all depend on our private info stored on our devices to work properly.

With such access, it quickly becomes easy for an app to abuse its granted privileges and access your stored data without valid reason parse. Xiaomi might have a solution for this.

Xiaomi is reportedly testing out a new feature that allows users to know which app is getting access to this sensitive information.

The feature which has been named “App Behavior Records” in MIUI 11. It logs whenever an app launches another app in the background or when they are using sensitive permissions. The behavior recorded is as follows.

Autostarting in the background
Chain start (app launching another app)
Using certain permissions
Performing sensitive actions

According to Xiaomi, these “Sensitive actions” on MIUI 11 include the following.

Recording audio in the background
Accessing calendar events
Accessing call history
Making a phone call
Taking photos or recording videos
Accessing or saving items to the clipboard
Accessing contacts
Accessing your location
Reading your text messages
Accessing sensor data
Accessing activity info
Accessing device info
Reading your phone number
Accessing or saving files in the background

A selling point for this feature over other implementations is that this can be tweaked per application. This means that an app you trust does not have to spam you with notifications.

At the moment, this feature is in testing and may not be available on all MIUI 11 devices yet. It’s a step in the right direction for privacy. It even beyond what Google already offers as part of Android 10 which MIUI for some devices is based on.

With the launch of Android 10, Google did a complete overhaul to the whole Permissions menu. Now, users can easily grant permissions to individual apps in a bid to avoid snooping apps.

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