App permissions on Android

[enjay]

I had a security-conscious moment and checked all the app permissions on my phone, changing any which seemed unnecessary. Google Play now throws an error because it can't read my texts. Anyone know why it might need to do that or can I leave it disabled and ignore the errors?

[Steve21]

It's basically the API middle-man for other apps to get bits, so guessing while it should be fine in disabling it it'd stop most other apps doing things too.

 

So might be easier to just leave GPS alone and then do it individually as you mentioned

 

Steve

[ADMaster]

Yeah I did similar and broke my contacts from syncing. In my mind the contacts app had permission so it should have worked, but as Steve said its a middle man / api thing.

[enjay]

I guess it also needs access to my camera and microphone too, then. I'll re-enable those although oddly it wasn't complaining about not having that access.

[PotNoodleTech]

It's the age old "hi for this weather app we need access to your contacts, phone, wifi, gps, credit card info, and every other thing on your phone as well as a copy of your driving licence and password too"

 

Under GDPR these apps are now technically illegal in Europe, as most of them do not require that kind of data, or at the least should have the ability for you to granularly select exactly what data you want it to have access too without breaking the app.

 

It would be interesting if someone who has more time than me could take the fight to the app store.