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summary
- Android 15 focuses on behind-the-scenes changes to improve user experience and safety, keeping your location data safe from carriers.
- New privacy features block non-emergency location requests originating from cellular networks, protecting against Stingray devices and potential abuse.
- The rollout is likely to be gradual as modem-level firmware updates are required, but Google Pixel smartphones running Android 15 may be the first to benefit.
The days when Android updates were a big step forward with outstanding new features and UI design changes seem to be a thing of the past ever since version 12 and its Material You goodness. Android 13 and 14 were mainly focused on optimization. The same is true for Android 15, with a number of small behind-the-scenes changes to improve user experience and safety. The latest features found in Android 15 keep your location data safe, even from your carrier.
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Android 15 developer preview builds recently started rolling out, and the second build introduces new privacy features that go a step further than just denying location-based access to apps and websites in the browser. Apps rely on Android’s OS-level APIs to request and access location data, which gives carriers near-continuous and uninterrupted access to location information. This data may be used to determine your location, determine where you live or frequent places, and deliver targeted advertising to you.
Writing for Android Authority, top Android enthusiast Mishaal Rahman explains that blocking carriers from accessing your location information isn’t that simple. This relies on the proprietary cellular radio firmware communicating with Android using the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) API, which radio vendors must support in their firmware. With the Android 15 update, companies that manufacture cellular hardware now have the option to integrate a new location privacy HAL that allows them to deny carrier location requests for non-emergency use, at the request of the Android OS. Become.
Processing device location requests helps protect you from stingrays
Rahman further revealed that this is not the first time this new HAL API has surfaced. This was seen in Android 14 QPR2 builds, but Google has since removed it as part of Android V, codenamed for Android 15. It can imitate real mobile phone networks and save you from Stingray devices that force your phone to connect and share data, including location information.
The API can block location requests originating from your cellular network provider, thus preventing the sharing of your location. Normally these are emergency requests, but Android 15 specifies that all non-emergency pings are blocked to ensure safety. That said, other types of location requests, such as those originating from your own device to determine your own location, or those terminating on your device when triggered by a third party, are subject to this It doesn’t seem to be affected by the changes.
However, this HAL API should not be treated as a cloak of anonymity. Because your network provider can still identify your device by your unique cellular ID and can also see which network tower it’s connected to. Combined with the signal strength and connection angle data available to your provider, it is possible to triangulate your approximate location.
In terms of deployment, it’s clear that not all devices updating to Android 15 will immediately benefit from it, as it requires a modem-level firmware update. But Rahman expects Google’s own Pixel smartphones, which ship with Android 15 preinstalled, to enjoy even more privacy. There’s no guarantee that other device manufacturers or their cellular wireless suppliers will jump on the bandwagon right away, but enabling support would send a big ripple through the industry.
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