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Android permissions explained, security tips, and avoiding malware

Arual said:
Thanks for all of your time and effort in sharing this info with us! I greatly appreciate it. Being a newbie, I had no idea much of that existed and surely wouldn't have known what to do about it.

Im abit scared to download stuff and to do my banking, etc on my inspire. Eek! Maybe I need to go back to the boring ol' basic cell phone, lol.

Do iphone users have these same concerns/issues? Im curious just because many apple lovers talk about how they dont have to worry about viruses and such on their Apple gadgets/comps, but is this ring true for their iphones too?

Again, thanks for the post! I located it by doing a search on permissions, I tried to download pandora app last night and was abit freaked out by the permissions it showed, so I ran here to search out info on what it all meant.... came by your post and ahhh, what a treasure it is! THANK YOU!
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Iphone users have similar concerns but maybe a bit less -- but they also have less freedom to do what they want with their phones. It's a trade off.

But I'm a staunch believer that Android is a fundamentally safe platform. You can certainly do your banking on it. I do my banking on my phone occasionally. Just be sure you are using an app made by your bank.

:D
 
thanks for replying!

I have so much to learn. Im abit, okay a lot, skittish with this download stuff. I even was alittle freaked out about the amazon appstore app that has to be downloaded to use the store... I don't remember now what it was, but something in the permissions was odd to me, but obviously its cause Im a newbie so everything is odd to ME! Between reading the permissions for pandora app and the amazon appstore app, I was skeeered and left the downloading to another day...
 
Pandora does use a lot of permissions - I wouldnt worry about Amazon though.

Anyways life with the little green robot is not so scary :)

But if you want a pocket reference of this guide have a look at my app PocketPermissions - it has all the info in this guide and will let you search and see what apps are already using permissions on your phone. PocketPermissions requires no special permissions to run :)

http://androidforums.com/android-ap...ermissions-app-version-my-security-guide.html
 
Oh that'll only happen if I start feeling risky... I admire those of you who do it, must be nice to not live with so many fears! LOL! :-)

Im such a skeerdycat!
 
Arual said:
Oh that'll only happen if I start feeling risky... I admire those of you who do it, must be nice to not live with so many fears! LOL! :-)

Im such a skeerdycat!
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haha don't worry I'm like that too. As ALP can attest to ;) I rather be safe and have nothing happen to me than be reckless and have bad things (or good things) happen to me.
 
Roze said:
haha don't worry I'm like that too. As ALP can attest to ;) I rather be safe and have nothing happen to me than be reckless and have bad things (or good things) happen to me.
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Yay, at least I'm not alone in the skeerdykat corner then!
At this rate, my phone will not only be stock forever .. but it will be nearly virgin... it would be virgin stock except that it now has ALPs app... LOL! :eek:
 
Arual said:
Yay, at least I'm not alone in the skeerdykat corner then!
At this rate, my phone will not only be stock forever .. but it will be nearly virgin... it would be virgin stock except that it now has ALPs app... LOL! :eek:
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PocketPermission popped your phone's cherry!!! haha ;)

The more you get to know about Android, the more comfortable you become, and thus more likely to take a little bit of risk. Just take your time, there's no rush or anything. If you have any questions, know that there's a great community here to help you ;)
 
Roze said:
PocketPermission popped your phone's cherry!!! haha ;)

The more you get to know about Android, the more comfortable you become, and thus more likely to take a little bit of risk. Just take your time, there's no rush or anything. If you have any questions, know that there's a great community here to help you ;)
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Roze is absolutely correct, when I 1st started with Android I was so afraid of breaking my phone that I wouldn't do hardly anything to it. Now, I enjoy my phone a ton more because I got comfortable with it. This forum is always willing to help the best we can.
 
Thanks alostpacket this is exactly the kind of guide I was looking for.

I have only had my Optimus V for two weeks now, and quite happy with it. I upgraded from the VM Snapper I had for about six years.

I am not a heavy user and don't need or want a boatload of apps, but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot either.

Something a did notice browsing the Android market. I was looking for a voice recorder and one I was checking out is Talk a Tape ( I think).
The free version had a huge amount of permissions but the paid one had very few and appropriate permissions.
Is it common with apps that the paid versions use/need less permissions?

Thanks again.
 
dthgtr said:
Something a did notice browsing the Android market. I was looking for a voice recorder and one I was checking out is Talk a Tape ( I think).
The free version had a huge amount of permissions but the paid one had very few and appropriate permissions.
Is it common with apps that the paid versions use/need less permissions?

Thanks again.
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Yes. Many free apps are ad supported, so they'll be needing internet access and possibly location info.

To use the above mentioned free Tape-a-Talk voice recorder app as a example. This appears to need the following perms:

Storage, Hardware controls, System tools, these are probably to do with the voice recording aspects of the app. However Phone calls(read phone state and identity), Your location(course network location) and Full internet access, are probably to do with the third-party ads and usage tracking one gets with this app, and similar ad supported free apps.
 
Android market is not available in the Dubai, so sometimes I download apps from any website I can find. Don't get me wrong, I would be more than happy to support these developers if I could ( most of these apps are free anyway, by checking the android market website).
Are you saying that all these are dangerous? I have Lookout installed and it scans these apps and verifies they are safe, though I'm not sure what that means, because if there are no viruses on Android, then what is Lookout scanning for?
I guess main thing I should watch out for is the permissions. So I should also consider that these apps might be modified :s
 
Hi Sorrow_Doll,

This is covered in the guide. Not all 3rd party app websites are dangerous. But warez apps websites definitely are. They have already shown they don't repect the developers or the law, that should be an indicator about how much respect they have for other people in general.

Furthermore, by downloading any warez apps, you are helping those sites make money instead of the developer. You ecourage the warez sites to steal more apps from developers.

If you want a particular app, I would look at SlideMe, AppsLib, or AndAppStore. All are legitimate alternative markets. But if you go to a warez website, you run the risk of getting malware no matter the permissions.

There is just no good reason to download from a warez site. "They are mostly free" and "I just want to try before I buy" are not legitimate excuses. They are called "rationalizations".

As a developer I am sorry you cannot get the Android Market in your country. But please do not add to the problem.

Finally, this is straying too far off topic for this thread. If you would like to know more about permissions, I am happy to answer questions about those as best I can. But I will not continue to debate warez nor offer you any indication that it's safe or OK to download them.

Further posts relating to warez will be moved out of this thread and may be subject to deletion by moderators.
 
not sure how I missed all these posts. Ive subscribed back in May but only received a discussion update notification today, 3mos later. At any rate,great discussion
 
Thanks, this is great info, but can I now change permissions without deleting apps & losing saved info?
 
wrighton said:
Thanks, this is great info, but can I now change permissions without deleting apps & losing saved info?
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Unless you can take the apk file of the app, open it and recode it so that it doesn't contain those permission codes, you are unable to change any permissions used in an app. If you are uncomfortable with a permission the app is requesting, then you shouldn't download it. If you root your phone, there are some ways around that but rooting is not meant for everyone though.
 
wrighton said:
Thanks, this is great info, but can I now change permissions without deleting apps & losing saved info?
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Welcome to the forums :)

Short answer: no, not really.

Long answer: there are some dirty hacks that let you revoke permissions later, but they don't always work, and can crash apps and cause other problems. And they require root, as Roze said. :)
 
First thank you for the post, it is really helpful. Second my question...

I am looking to upgrade to a new android phone but I am hesitant to get a phone with many pre-loaded apps that you cannot remove. Those apps also have permissions, since they are already loaded on to the phone does that mean that if i inadvertently click on one i have given that app access to the permissions it is requesting?

I tried looking for information on this in other forums but the concern with bloatware is mostly about memory space and processing time not permissions.

I know you can root your phone to remove these apps but I don't really want to do that.
 
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