Android may be brought into line with Apple iOS on user privacy: according to Google, version “M” is scheduled for release later in May, which can give control of app data back to the users. Apparently, Android will include detailed control over personal information, including phone numbers, location, names and addresses, as well as allow to choose whether applications can access any data.

At the moment, when you install an app on Android, it requests permission to access certain features and data on your device. Your choice is limited: you can either accept all permission requests and run the app, or reject them and don’t install the app. In other words, there’s no middle ground. Moreover, you can’t revoke a permission after you granted it.

The developers explain that Google used a hidden system of app permissions control dubbed “AppOps” with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. It was accessible only by using a 3rd-party app. However, it was later said that the feature was exposed in error, and it was removed from Android 4.4 KitKat.

In the meantime, 3rd-party customized versions of Android OS (including Cyanogen shipped on the OnePlus One) do allow users to control the types of information that the installed apps are able to access outside of the standard OS permissions.

Industry experts point out that Apple’s iOS is arranged in a similar order: the installed applications must ask permission to access data like location the first time it is required. You can either approve the request once or forever, or deny it. However, the problem with Android OS is that applications frequently crash if they are denied access. This means that the app developers need to update their software to handle the cases when the data requests are blocked.

Finally, a number of developer conference sessions at Google I/O in San Francisco later in May suggest that user permissions may be implemented in Android M. The rumors are that the new OS can even include a new system of website permissions. Indeed, key to a new permission system will be protecting Android users from permission-request overload. This will allow to avoid a situation that is prevalent with user agreements at the moment: where 99% of people blindly agree to terms without reading the agreements.