Smart Home & Tech · Home office tech

How to audit app permissions granted in December

Check camera, microphone, photos and location access in your phone settings after installing holiday apps.

An app-permission audit means opening the phone’s own privacy settings and turning off camera, microphone, or location access for apps you do not use. It does not mean a cleaner from an ad. It does not mean turning off find-my, encryption, screen time, or a work profile. It is not a way to watch someone else.

Step 1: Use the phone’s own privacy list

1. Open Settings on the phone you own. Look at camera, microphone, location, and photos.
2. For an app you do not use, turn those permissions off or delete the app in the phone’s own store tools.
3. Do not install a “permission cleaner.” Do not jailbreak the phone to reach a deeper menu.

Speaker and camera toggles you already know are in speaker and camera privacy. A doorbell you still use can keep the access it needs: doorbell privacy.

Step 2: Leave the locks that protect the phone

Find-my, or the maker’s lost-phone lock, stays on. Disk encryption stays on. The lock screen stays on. Screen time and parental controls stay on if a child uses a device in the house. This page does not explain how to turn those off or how to bypass a school filter.

A work profile stays if the phone is a work phone. Do not remove it to “clean December.” Kids’ tablets keep the controls you already set: parental controls and kids’ tablets.

Step 3: Location is not a tracker for the household

Turn off location for a game or a lantern app that does not need it. Do not open location history to see where a partner, a child, or a guest went. Do not use a router device list for the same thing. If a family sharing feature is on, the people in it should already know. Do not turn it on in secret.

Extra camera shares from December should expire: temporary camera access. Do not post a clip you find while cleaning the camera roll. Do not upload passwords you photographed by mistake. Delete those photos.

Step 4: New apps still come from the official store

If you replace an app, install it from the official store while the controls stay on. Do not use a search-ad link. Do not change DNS so a blocked app appears. Do not add a free VPN from a pop-up to “audit safely.”

Travel and shopping habits stay the same: VPN habits. A backup before you delete a lot of apps is the phone’s own backup, not a wipe: phone backups. When the unused apps no longer have the camera and the mic, stop. The panel stays closed. This audit does not certify the phone.

What you should be able to point at

• Camera, mic, and location are off for apps you do not use. You used the phone’s own settings. No ad cleaner. No jailbreak.
• Find-my, encryption, the lock screen, and screen time stayed on. A work profile stayed. No bypass of parental controls or school filters.
• You did not read location history to track a person. Secret family tracking stayed off. Camera shares that should have ended are ended.
• Password photos were deleted, not uploaded. Clips of people were not posted.
• Replacements came from the official store. No DNS change. No free VPN from a pop-up. No wipe.

Example: the lantern app lost the microphone

They open the phone’s privacy list. A holiday lantern app still has the microphone and location. They turn both off. They do not delete find-my. A child’s tablet in the house keeps screen time on. They do not search for a way around it. They do not install a cleaner from an ad. A camera share for a neighbor that ended in December is already gone. They do not open location history to see where guests went. A photo of a Wi-Fi card in the camera roll is deleted. They do not post it. A replacement flashlight, if they want one, comes from the official store. They do not change DNS. The lock screen stays on. The panel stayed closed.

Review one permission category at a time

Open the operating system’s privacy list and ask whether each app still needs the access it was granted for a holiday task. Revoke unnecessary access and test the app afterward. Keep work-managed permissions under the organization’s policy and do not confuse a permission review with deleting all location services.

Related guides

• Speaker and camera privacy
• Doorbell privacy
• Kids’ tablets
• Parental controls
• VPN habits

Last updated: October 29, 2026

Last reviewed October 22, 2026. Suggest a correction

Information on this site is for general educational purposes and is not professional advice.

Parent topic: Smart Home & Tech