"It used to be possible for Android apps to access any kind of storage on an android device through the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. Writing to the SD card is useful for many different kinds of apps, e.g. file managers or cloud storage synchronization. However, the latest version of Android will no longer allow apps to write anywhere on external storage media, instead apps will only be allowed to access app-specific folders on SD cards. Android Police has an excellent writeup of the changes and the implications for users."
[ED Note: This is bound to irritate power users that rely on their SD cards for additional device storage.]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by dilbert on Wednesday February 19 2014, @09:00AM
I know the average user has the IQ of a ground squirrel, so google tries to protect them from themselves, but those of us who know how to actually use a 'pocket computer that also makes calls' shouldn't be limited by sandboxing all of an apps data.
Perhaps they could make it an option in the settings, like how they (currently) allow apps to be side loaded by changing one setting.