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List of Games that Don't Access Internet?

N

nosehat

Lurker
Hi--

Can someone point me to a list of games (or other apps) that do not request internet access or other access? This isn't really about avoiding ads. I don't care if the games are paid or free. I just don't feel comfortable with apps phoning home all the time and transferring who knows what data.

I visited the Android Market website, where I was hoping to see an advanced search feature that would let me search by permissions, but I couldn't find that either. Does the market have this feature, or any other database of Android apps?

Thanks in advance!

--Nosehat
 
Are you rooted? It's possible to deny internet access to specific apps by using firewall apps, although the only one I know of requires root.
 
Thanks for the reply, Xyro.

No, I haven't rooted my phone, so a firewall app that requires root to install isn't really an option at this point.

I also don't really care to subvert any developer's intentions. If their business model involves giving users a "free" game, but then aggregating and selling their users' info to advertisers, best of luck to them. I personally won't want anything to do with their product though.

Rather than use a firewall, I'd rather vote with my wallet. I'm looking for apps that play fair and respect my privacy out of the box. Unless a game is serving ads, doing multiplayer, or featuring something weird like current news headlines showing up in game, there is no valid need for a working game to require an internet socket. I'm quite happy to pay for the game if it buys me the extra privacy, but I've noticed that all the android games that have a free and paid version still require these permissions for the paid version.

My guess is that I'll find what I'm looking for from small studios and independent developers, places where the primary business model is just to produce and sell a great game for the user. Any of the larger studios, or studios that are really just a branch of an ad agency, are probably a lost cause on this issue.

My hope is that since the permissions requested by each app is already a part of the database on the Android Market website, there would be some way to search or list games using that data.

Thanks for reading, and I'm still hoping for some suggestions!

--Nosehat
 
even if a game requests internet access , it can't reach your personal info without requesting other permissions
so , look for apps that doesn't request other permissions , not only internet access
 
I was thinking the same thing, espectra. I've already sent off emails to the Amazon Appstore dev team and also the "onlyAndroid" store, requesting this feature.

I also put in a feature request at appbrain, which can be viewed (and voted up ;)) here.
 
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