Android Permissions: total fear or total acceptance
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I was just viewing the wikipedia app in the Google Play store: wikipedia app[^] The info about the app says... This app has access to: Identity find accounts on the device add or remove accounts :~ Contacts find accounts on the device :~ Location precise location (GPS and network-based) Photos/Media/Files read the contents of your USB storage modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:suss: Storage read the contents of your USB storage :~ modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:confused::suss: Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections create accounts and set passwords :~:confused::suss: full network access run at startup control vibration I develop Android apps and have written a few articles here at CP about it. However, these rights seem confusing, alarming, intrusive and even suspicious to me. This is not because wikipedia devs have done something wrong. It's the nature of the Permissions Beast The required permissions to do stuff seem so intrusive that as a user you either: ## Trust it 100% ## Distrust it 100% I think it is just confusing and : It _Seems_ Like There Could Be A Better Way!?! Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm". Then you could at least know what it was doing or something. But most users wouldn't do that anyways. Just TRUST IT ALL! :laugh:
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I was just viewing the wikipedia app in the Google Play store: wikipedia app[^] The info about the app says... This app has access to: Identity find accounts on the device add or remove accounts :~ Contacts find accounts on the device :~ Location precise location (GPS and network-based) Photos/Media/Files read the contents of your USB storage modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:suss: Storage read the contents of your USB storage :~ modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:confused::suss: Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections create accounts and set passwords :~:confused::suss: full network access run at startup control vibration I develop Android apps and have written a few articles here at CP about it. However, these rights seem confusing, alarming, intrusive and even suspicious to me. This is not because wikipedia devs have done something wrong. It's the nature of the Permissions Beast The required permissions to do stuff seem so intrusive that as a user you either: ## Trust it 100% ## Distrust it 100% I think it is just confusing and : It _Seems_ Like There Could Be A Better Way!?! Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm". Then you could at least know what it was doing or something. But most users wouldn't do that anyways. Just TRUST IT ALL! :laugh:
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Quote:
Just TRUST IT ALL!
What a scary thought! :wtf:
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
Cornelius Henning wrote:
What a scary thought!
It's really the expectation of modern technology though. :) An additionally, possibly odd thing, is that even though the up-and-coming generation is "so technologically savvy" they are far more likely to just say, "TRUST IT ALL!" :confused:
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I was just viewing the wikipedia app in the Google Play store: wikipedia app[^] The info about the app says... This app has access to: Identity find accounts on the device add or remove accounts :~ Contacts find accounts on the device :~ Location precise location (GPS and network-based) Photos/Media/Files read the contents of your USB storage modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:suss: Storage read the contents of your USB storage :~ modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:confused::suss: Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections create accounts and set passwords :~:confused::suss: full network access run at startup control vibration I develop Android apps and have written a few articles here at CP about it. However, these rights seem confusing, alarming, intrusive and even suspicious to me. This is not because wikipedia devs have done something wrong. It's the nature of the Permissions Beast The required permissions to do stuff seem so intrusive that as a user you either: ## Trust it 100% ## Distrust it 100% I think it is just confusing and : It _Seems_ Like There Could Be A Better Way!?! Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm". Then you could at least know what it was doing or something. But most users wouldn't do that anyways. Just TRUST IT ALL! :laugh:
raddevus wrote:
Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm".
I think Android introduced runtime permission checks since API level 23 (or 24). Personally I go for Distrust 100% :) When I see such a required permissions list I try to figure out what I'd use those permissions for. For example, maybe I can understand that Wikipedia needs my identity info (maybe to sign in automatically using one of my accounts if supported) and WiFi / connection info (to get connectivity status). But Contacts, location, media? Nope, I usually cancel install.
"It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something." -Ornette Coleman "Philosophy is a study that lets us be unhappy more intelligently." -Anon.
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raddevus wrote:
Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm".
I think Android introduced runtime permission checks since API level 23 (or 24). Personally I go for Distrust 100% :) When I see such a required permissions list I try to figure out what I'd use those permissions for. For example, maybe I can understand that Wikipedia needs my identity info (maybe to sign in automatically using one of my accounts if supported) and WiFi / connection info (to get connectivity status). But Contacts, location, media? Nope, I usually cancel install.
"It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something." -Ornette Coleman "Philosophy is a study that lets us be unhappy more intelligently." -Anon.
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I was just viewing the wikipedia app in the Google Play store: wikipedia app[^] The info about the app says... This app has access to: Identity find accounts on the device add or remove accounts :~ Contacts find accounts on the device :~ Location precise location (GPS and network-based) Photos/Media/Files read the contents of your USB storage modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:suss: Storage read the contents of your USB storage :~ modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:confused::suss: Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections create accounts and set passwords :~:confused::suss: full network access run at startup control vibration I develop Android apps and have written a few articles here at CP about it. However, these rights seem confusing, alarming, intrusive and even suspicious to me. This is not because wikipedia devs have done something wrong. It's the nature of the Permissions Beast The required permissions to do stuff seem so intrusive that as a user you either: ## Trust it 100% ## Distrust it 100% I think it is just confusing and : It _Seems_ Like There Could Be A Better Way!?! Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm". Then you could at least know what it was doing or something. But most users wouldn't do that anyways. Just TRUST IT ALL! :laugh:
You can use application manager to deny the permissions after installing, BUT before opening. The apps will normally prompt you to enable the permission when you try to do something that requires it. I start with deny everything until I see what causes a prompt.
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I was just viewing the wikipedia app in the Google Play store: wikipedia app[^] The info about the app says... This app has access to: Identity find accounts on the device add or remove accounts :~ Contacts find accounts on the device :~ Location precise location (GPS and network-based) Photos/Media/Files read the contents of your USB storage modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:suss: Storage read the contents of your USB storage :~ modify or delete the contents of your USB storage :~:confused::suss: Wi-Fi connection information view Wi-Fi connections Other view network connections create accounts and set passwords :~:confused::suss: full network access run at startup control vibration I develop Android apps and have written a few articles here at CP about it. However, these rights seem confusing, alarming, intrusive and even suspicious to me. This is not because wikipedia devs have done something wrong. It's the nature of the Permissions Beast The required permissions to do stuff seem so intrusive that as a user you either: ## Trust it 100% ## Distrust it 100% I think it is just confusing and : It _Seems_ Like There Could Be A Better Way!?! Might be interesting if Android allowed you to "warn when app uses [named] perm". Then you could at least know what it was doing or something. But most users wouldn't do that anyways. Just TRUST IT ALL! :laugh:
If your app opts into the finer grained permissions in newer versions of android the user can approve/deny permissions individually. (The catch is that as a dev you have to handle eg not being able to access the GPS because the user has given you a big fat NOPE.)
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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If your app opts into the finer grained permissions in newer versions of android the user can approve/deny permissions individually. (The catch is that as a dev you have to handle eg not being able to access the GPS because the user has given you a big fat NOPE.)
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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You can use application manager to deny the permissions after installing, BUT before opening. The apps will normally prompt you to enable the permission when you try to do something that requires it. I start with deny everything until I see what causes a prompt.