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A question about permissions

R

rbohan44

Newbie
I read the article about permissions. Here are some of the permissions for Facebook:

Modify your contacts, read call log, read your contacts, write call log.
Add or remove accounts, create accounts and set passwords.
Modify or delete the contents of your SD card
Read phone status and identity
Record audio take pictures and videos
Prevent phone from sleeping, toggle sync on and off

Firefox has similar permissions.

Now, these seem to be the very sort of things I shouldn't allow, right? But I'm assuming Facebook is trustworthy (mostly...maybe...).

If another app that I'm less familiar with asks for the same permissions, why wouldn't I grant them if I've already granted them to Facebook?

My point is that just about every app I check has permissions that I'm uncomfortable with. Heck, Floating Stickies has permission to "modify or delete the contents of my SD card"!

If I'm truly going to be careful about permissions...I wouldn't have any apps at all on my phone. How's a fella to decide?
 
It's all about whether permissions are relevant to the app you're installing.

If a Live wallpaper wants access to my contacts or wants to directly call numbers etc, that's a huge, massive no.

However, if a launcher asked for those permissions, that's perfectly acceptable.

Fwiw, I uninstalled FB based on the latest update asking for ridiculous over the top permissions.
 
1. FB can sync to your contacts. So if you want FB friends in your contacts so their phone numbers will be there, you need the first permission.

2. FB is added to your synced accounts. Its tied to the first permission.

3. SD card access for uploading and downloading files.

4. This is so it can stop during certain processes, like calls etc.

5. You can take pictures and videos straight from the FB app.

6. Well it syncs. And this makes the phone wake up if its idling and sync schedule arrives.
 
chanchan05;[URL="tel:5787439" said:
5787439[/URL]]1. FB can sync to your contacts. So if you want FB friends in your contacts so their phone numbers will be there, you need the first permission.

2. FB is added to your synced accounts. Its tied to the first permission.

3. SD card access for uploading and downloading files.

4. This is so it can stop during certain processes, like calls etc.

5. You can take pictures and videos straight from the FB app.

6. Well it syncs. And this makes the phone wake up if its idling and sync schedule arrives.
Click to expand...

Well said. I'd like to add that a lot of apps, have certain features/functions, giving the user access to, are required by these permissions. What I have learned is that, for the most part, I'm the one causing the action by telling the app, Facebook for example: to allow friends to change/add something on my Facebook wall. Any action that the user does thru the app, the app has to have these permission if it's apart of the functionality of that app.

So, in short, look at what the apps functions are and needs access to. Compare the permissions and If your not comfortable with it, don't install the app.
 
Exactly. These permissions are usually there to make things work better/faster/easier for us so dont be complacant about permissions but just as importantly, dont worry about it unless you use your device for things worthy of being spyed on lol and most people dont :)
 
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