Windows 10 Fall Creators Update to Offer Improved Privacy Features, Including App Permissions

Microsoft has announced that it will be giving Windows 10 customers better control over how different apps - especially those made by third-party - interact with sensitive information and hardware resources such as camera in a move that addresses some privacy concerns people have expressed since the release of Windows 10 two years ago.

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, which the company will be rolling out to customers on October 17, will include these improved privacy options, Microsoft said this week in a blog post. Users will be able to easily revoke an app's access to webcam, microphone, calendar, or contacts and so on from Privacy section on Control Panel.

At present, apps downloaded from the Windows Store only require a user's permission when they are seeking access to location. Additionally, Microsoft said each app that seeks access to various resources will now have to get approval from the user. An on-screen prompt will appear to ask the users whether they want the app to access any resource.

By default, Microsoft says that current app settings and preferences (including the resources they have access to) will be retained when a user upgrades the computer to Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. But moving forward, every app will have to seek permission.

In many ways, Microsoft is treating the privacy option as Apple does on its mobile operating system iOS, where users can scan through all the resources different apps have access to in one place.

Microsoft has addressed several of the privacy concerns people have expressed in the past two years. With Windows 10 Creators Update, for instance, Microsoft let customers know what kind of data it was collecting. With Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, Microsoft says it will also offer users full privacy statement during the installation process.