AppOps is still alive, though you'll need root in order to access it.
The problem with coarse-grained control like AppOps is that it can cause apps to malfunction or even outright crash when they try to use permissions that you revoked. This is probably not the kind of behavior that Google would like to enable for the average user.
Personally, I'd prefer a subtler (but possibly more draconian) approach, such as exposing a fake or empty contact list to apps that want my contacts; exposing some random location in the middle of nowhere to apps that want my location; and exposing a fake or empty folder to apps that want my pictures. Grant access to my messages, but never actually notify them when a new message comes in. Grant access to my microphone, but only ever feed them silence. Poor apps will not even suspect that anything is amiss! Is there any way right now to do something like this on rooted phones?
The CyanogenMod OS has this built in. Very similar to what you describe (provides empty contact list, empty folder etc to apps you specify). Don't know if there's a standalone app to do the same.
> The problem with coarse-grained control like AppOps is that it can cause apps to malfunction or even outright crash when they try to use permissions that you revoked.
The problem with Android, being a meta-distribution, is that Google has less control over when users (not just Nexus) get version X of Android.
I remember Andy Rubin said Android could evolve more quickly because it was open source. Without debating that, its clear that in practice we haven't seen that when taking into account what users are actually using.
This makes it very difficult for Google to make these breaking kinds of changes to make things better, so entropy keeps accumulating in the platform.
The problem with coarse-grained control like AppOps is that it can cause apps to malfunction or even outright crash when they try to use permissions that you revoked. This is probably not the kind of behavior that Google would like to enable for the average user.
Personally, I'd prefer a subtler (but possibly more draconian) approach, such as exposing a fake or empty contact list to apps that want my contacts; exposing some random location in the middle of nowhere to apps that want my location; and exposing a fake or empty folder to apps that want my pictures. Grant access to my messages, but never actually notify them when a new message comes in. Grant access to my microphone, but only ever feed them silence. Poor apps will not even suspect that anything is amiss! Is there any way right now to do something like this on rooted phones?