Google will soon be more selective about which apps on the play store can see all of the other apps you have installed. Starting on May 5th, 2021, developers will have to provide a very good reason for why Google should let you access info like that.

Google recently updated its developer program policy and now considers that info to be’personal and sensitive user data,’ restricting which apps are allowed to use it.

Once the change goes into effect in May, apps can only use the permission if their’core user facing functionality or purpose, requires broad visibility into installed apps on the user’s device’s device’.

Apps that do n’t have a justifiable use case risk being removed from the Google Play store. All developers who want to keep the permission in their apps need to complete a declaration form justifying their use of it.