With Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, Google slipped out an internal testing feature — App Ops — that allows users to control permissions to various apps. It was widely expected that the company would be making the feature public with KitKat but instead, it removed all traces of it with the Android 4.4.2 update. 

App Ops is an incredibly useful feature that allows the user to limit apps from accessing your personal data, location, modify Settings or even keep the device awake. This way you can use apps like Facebook but not allow them to access your personal data or keep the device awake and drain the battery unnecessarily.

While custom ROMs can bring App Ops back, they do require the user to go through the tedious process of flashing them. Thankfully, if you have root access, you can restore access to App Ops on your KitKat-running device by simply following the steps below. Sadly, at the moment it is not possible to restore back the functionality on non-rooted KitKat running Android devices.

1. Head over to the Play Store and download App Ops. The app is only compatible with Android 4.3 and Android 4.4 KitKat but requires root access to work on the latter version of the OS.

2. Fire up the app and tap Install. Make sure to grant the app with root permissions so that the installation procedures can be completed without any hiccup. Reboot your Android device for the changes to take affect.

3.  Start App Ops again to control the permissions of various applications.

Personally, I use App Ops to prevent Google Play Services, Facebook and Foursquare from unnecessarily waking up my Nexus 5 and draining its battery. What is your primary reason of installing App Ops? Drop in a comment and do let us know!