Cybersecurity For Android Applications: Permissions In Android 5 And 6

Android 5 informs users of all permissions requested when downloading an app and gives users an all-or-nothing acceptance decision to make for the permissions. In contrast, Android 6 informs users of each permission upon first use of the downloaded app. We conducted an online study with participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk to compare the relative usability of the two permissions interfaces. Each interface condition contained a simulation of the Google Play Store and instructed participants to role-play the task of downloading an app. Afterward, each participant was questioned about which permissions were seen and the functions of those permissions. The Android 5 interface showed better performance with informing users as to which permissions access their device, whereas the Android 6 interface fared better with presenting the functions of the permissions. Also, the Android 6 interface was found to be more intuitive to use than that of Android 5. Although a pilot study showed that users favored the Android 6 permissions interface over Android 5's, the present study found no clear evidence that it was more effective than Android 5.