Apps & permissions

[DynahoeDave]

What is the deal with this... I went to get an MP3 player app. And it wants permission to access my contacts / calendar, phone, photos [media & files makes sense] camera & microphone [WTF???] Device Id & call info. I can see why it would need access to the music files, [duh] But why the others? Especially the camera? Is there anywhere / anyone making apps that are not so privacy intrusive?

 

[codesplice]

It's good that you're reviewing the permissions an application requests before you install - that's actually the most important thing you can do to protect your device.

There's a rather helpful (though perhaps slightly outdated) thread over here which explains in detail what a lot of applications permissions actually mean. It can be quite helpful to have a basic grasp of what the permissions do, and why an application may want certain permissions.

A lot of applications will want phone / call info permissions - this allows them to cleanly pause/suspend themselves when you receive an incoming call. Others may want access to your contacts / messaging to enable you to share things with your contacts ("I'm listening to this awesome song! Check it out!"). Unless the app in question has the capability to identify a song that is playing elsewhere or search for a song/artist/album by voice, I can't think of a reason for it to need access to the microphone. And the only legitimate use of the camera I can think of would be perhaps to add missing album art. No clue on the Calendar permission, either.

As promo87 suggested, if you'll provide the name of the app that you're looking at we can look at it more closely to try and figure out what it's up to. You may also want to try contacting the developer and asking about the permissions. :thumbup:

 

[DynahoeDave]

The app in question is MP3 Player by accountstudio. I looked at both the free and the $1.00 one. I don't need advertisements. Actually, it would be nice to have the same player on both my GS5 and my Galaxy player 4.2. IF that is possible. If it is, would I be able to find the playlist files, and copy / paste them from one to the other?

 

[codesplice]

I'm not sure if I've mentioned yet how much I hate the new "simplified" permissions. It groups permissions sets together in friendly categories... but doesn't tell you which are actually used. For instance, the app probably wants access to your contacts for sharing purposes, but the permissions show that it might possibly want calendar access too (even if it doesn't). It makes them a lot more difficult to read in my opinion.

Anyhoo:

This app has access to:
• Contacts/Calendar
- Uses one or more of: calendar, contact information

Like I mentioned, probably Contacts for Sharing purposes.

• Phone
- Uses one or more of: phone, call log. Charges may apply.

My instinct is that it uses this to detect if you're on a call (so that it can pause the music), but it looks like that's covered under the "Device ID & call information" permission too. See how complicated this has become?

• Photos/Media/Files
- Uses one or more of: files on the device such as images, videos, or audio, the device's external storage

It naturally needs access to any local music files, and that's probably all that it's after.

• Device ID & call information
- Allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call

As I mentioned, the call information is likely used to pause the media playback when you're on a call.


None of those permissions raise any red flags to me.

To answer your other questions, I don't see any reason that you couldn't install the app on both devices and somehow sync (maybe using FolderSync or similar) your playlists between the two. :thumbup: