Android 14 to combat in-app full-screen ads better

Ad-supported apps and games are a great way to get a free yet still subsidized experience. However, not all ads are created equal and full-screen ones are definitely among the more annoying ones. Google has also zoned in on the particular issue, and Android 14 comes with a per-app management interface for full-screen intents.

In Android 14, you can manually revoke the USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT permission from apps so they can't send you full-screen notifications.

Later this year, Google Play will auto revoke this permission from newly installed apps that don't provide calling or alarm functionality! pic.twitter.com/plCSZDz94f

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) August 9, 2023

Without getting too technical here, this interface manages the USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT permission. In case you were wondering what a full-screen intent looks like, you can't actually see that, but what you do see is a full-screen activity that gets initiated by said intent. Good examples include an incoming call screen or an active alarm screen. This problem is that certain apps tend to abuse this USE_FULL_SCREEN_INTENT permission in particular to show blocking, full-screen apps. This is not the only way to achieve such an effect, but it is definitely among the most abused ways.

So, Android 14 will allow you to decide which apps get said permission and which don't. Google even takes the measures one step further and says that starting sometime at the end of 2023, any newly installed app from the Play Store on Android 14 will have the permission disabled by default, except for apps that handle calls and alarms. You can still manage this behavior from the aforementioned menu. In fact, you will have to manually go in and disable the permission for any app that uses it and has been installed before an Android 14 system update on your phone.

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