Android Marshmallow feature: manage app permissions
Have you been happily clicking OK to every app’s permissions list and now worry they’re sending your personal information to God knows where? Android Marshmallow enables you to allow or deny permission retrospectively, so you’re not stuck with the decisions you make when you first download the app. It’s very useful but it isn’t part of Android Lollipop. If you have a rooted device, however, the excellent XPrivacy can bring the same features to your mobile or tablet today.
Android Marshmallow feature: Chrome Custom Tabs
Until Android 6.0 Marshmallow, clicking on a link within an application – such as a link you’ve been sent on WhatsApp or in an email – will automatically open the link in your default browser. And that’s fine, but a full browser has a hefty overhead that you don’t always want when you’re just investigating what the link is.
Chrome Custom Tabs in Marshmallow will address that by loading a stripped-back subset of Chrome that uses fewer system resources than the full Chrome browser. You can’t add it to Lollipop, but installing the ultra-light Link Bubble browser and making it the default will do much the same – no rooting required. What Link Bubble does is display a link in a little bubble, loading it in the background while you get on with what you’re doing.
Android Marshmallow feature: Smart Link
Sticking with the subject of navigation, Smart Link is one of those little features in Marshmallow that you’ll soon wonder how you managed without. Instead of opening every kind of link in the web browser, Smart Link opens them in the appropriate app – so, for example, a link to a tweet opens in your Twitter app without opening the browser or asking you what app you want to use. On older versions of Android, you can get much the same functionality by installing the excellent TapPath.
Android Marshmallow feature: support for fingerprint readers for payments
In Android Marshmallow, the fingerprint sensor is supported throughout the OS, not just for unlocking your phone but for authorizing things such as payments. You can get similar functionality in recent Samsung devices thanks to PayPal and FIDO: go to Settings > Fingerprints > Pay with PayPal to enable the feature.
If you don’t have a fingerprint reader don’t worry: you can use ICE Unlock to turn your camera into a scanner, although it’ll only unlock your phone. That’s because while it works perfectly well as a phone unlocker, the camera can’t process the same level of detail as a dedicated fingerprint scanner, so the security isn’t strong enough to be trusted with your debit or credit card details. Still, it’s enough to keep your pals out without having to bother with long passcodes.
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