Some of the most sensitive information on your smartphone is stored in the dialer and SMS applications They hold your phone number, conversation history, and the personal information of other people in your phone. Giving an app permission to all of this should not be taken lightly. Google is updating the Google Play Developer Policy to make protect this information.
Apps are only supposed to request permission for what is needed to make the app function. However, we know that doesn't always happen. Any Android app can ask permission to access a users' phone and SMS data. A new change in the Developer Policy will make it so only the default phone and SMS apps can access the call logs and messages.
This is important because it will restrict access to only one or two apps at a time. Even if you have an app like Facebook Messenger installed, which can access SMS conversations, it won't be able to do it unless it's set as the default. So even if the user is giving out permission nonchalantly to several apps, only the app they actually use can access the information.
Google has posted a Help Center article to help developers find alternatives to these permissions. Developers have 90 days from the policy update to issue updates to their apps. After that, the updated Developer Policy will be enforced.