Apps, apps and more apps...

[RC90RR]

Coming from the blackerry world I am overwhelmed at the vast amounts of apps available for my Nexus 5 but perhaps I am even more confused by the requirements that I must allow to install some of these apps.

Examples:

Games that require me to give them access to my id, contacts or photos/media/files... what relevancy can this make for them so I can play the game? Same goes for some regular apps and their requirement... too many to list.

Am I the only old Geazzerd here that believes they do this to sell my private data to third parties? don't we have enough private information out there as it is?

 

[EarlyMon]

Not only are you not alone, paying attention to that is more important than just their profit motives -

http://androidforums.com/threads/an...ned-security-tips-and-avoiding-malware.36936/

 

[RC90RR]

There should be an option to allow us to sort the games or apps by requirements but I assume that Google makes a percentage off of any monies made by the developers as well, otherwise... why does Goggle allows this?

For the most part, I don't install them but it baffles me to see the amount of people that have downloaded the game or app with no regard to what it can do to them.

Oh well... perhaps there is an app for that? lol

 

[EarlyMon]

Google makes the same off of good apps or bad - they've responded by making the permissions more granular (less stuff clumped together) and more obvious to us what's going on.

It's far from a perfect system but we can at least protect ourselves somewhat.

There are some apps for root users that can restrict permissions, but I don't think that is the best answer.

There's a zillion apps and games out there - my personal approach is to avoid anything suspicious, I can always find the equivalent with reasonable permissions.

Things like contacts - you expect to see that in a text or dialer app - not a game ok.

 

[sean1624]

In a game, it really depends on what type. If its like say, a shooter game and they want your contacts, that's suspicious. But in a game, like maybe words with friends, they could possibly use the contacts you have and see which numbers has that game, so you can start off with people to play with.

I think what google has is not a great system, but also a great system.

The apps use a lot of your personal things in your phone, some apps it makes more sense than others, but the thing you have to applaud about is that they at least tell you what they are going to use from your phone when you download the app, so you can go through it and see if its right for you.

 

[chanchan05]

At least they tell us what has access to what. Apple and BB doesn't. You just have to be smart and to understand if the app really needs that permission or not, depending on features.

 

[RC90RR]

I still would love to install an App that does not require my bank account LOL that would allow me to sort the apps/Games I want to install by Requirements first.

I used to love playing BrickBreaker on my BB, I did it when I was out enjoying a cig, personal time at the bathroom (lol) so when I moved to Android I was perplexed at the amount of similar games to brickbreaker but the requirements to give them access to my photos/media/files did not bode well for me, or access to my id and contacts... Thank God I am old and I can control myself from having to install those.

Well, I thank you guys from taking the time to reply to my posts. There are a few things I don't like about the way Android takes over some things on my phone but I will try to find ways around it or just not use those things anymore.

 

[EarlyMon]

I still would love to install an App that does not require my bank account LOL that would allow me to sort the apps/Games I want to install by Requirements first.

I used to love playing BrickBreaker on my BB, I did it when I was out enjoying a cig, personal time at the bathroom (lol) so when I moved to Android I was perplexed at the amount of similar games to brickbreaker but the requirements to give them access to my photos/media/files did not bode well for me, or access to my id and contacts... Thank God I am old and I can control myself from having to install those.

Well, I thank you guys from taking the time to reply to my posts. There are a few things I don't like about the way Android takes over some things on my phone but I will try to find ways around it or just not use those things anymore.

Take your credit card off of the Play Store, have purchases billed to your carrier.

I find that easier to keep track of things fwiw.