Android 4.3 comes with a hidden app permission manager

Android 4.3 will come with a permissionsmanager built within its folds. While most custom Android ROMs come with a such a manager forusers who want thefreedom of customisingapp permissionsas they see fit, stock Android OS' did not give that kind of leeway. This seems to have changed with Android 4.3, according to Android Police.
The application is still hidden,though, probably because thecompany is working out thefiner details. From what can be seen right now, the permissionsmanager is called "App Ops" and will let users selectively disablecertain permissionsthat are given to apps. This is ideal for users who sometimes have to put up with misbehaving apps which constantly ping out location details while draining thephone’s battery ina few hours.
From the screenshots seen, there is an App Ops icon, which whentapped will open up a list of all installed apps as well as the permissionsthey use. The list is categorised into 4 user-friendly tabs which list out apps based on functions. Thus, theapp manager breaks up all theapps into "location," "personal," "messaging," and "device" sections, so users can easily segregate theirapps and figure out which permission they are using. The app also comeswith a timestamp which displays whenthe app last used a permission.
Once users select an app, they will see a screendisplayed with an easy on/off optionshowingup next to each permission. So if users don’t want theirFacebook application to know theirlocation, they can easily hit the “off” button. This will not change the way theapp works, it will just limit theamount of information that the app has. The screen displayed will also showthe last time each individualpermission was used.
There are some faults in thesystem. Even though users may have disabledsome permissionsfor an app, for example Facebook, whenthe app is launched on themain dashboard,it will not showany notificationmessage saying that permissionshave been limited. This might make it confusingforusers to remember what permissionsthey might have disabled, unless they launch theApp Ops manager.
Another problem faced is thelist of permissionsitself. Most of thepermissionshave to have been used by the app at some point, inorder to getthem displayed on App Ops. Taking up the Facebook example again, it seems that permissionsthat were given whenthe app was first launched, thepermissionswhich were givenwhen a user’s contacts were imported, and thepermissions granted whena user may have posted a picture taken from thecamera, are all different, and have to be hunted down first. After that, owing to App Ops displayissue, it seems like users will have to make the app usethe said permissionsfirst, in order to disable them. All told, that is a lot of work, and it is hoped that Google will work on simplifying theapp permission method.