Help Removing Phone permissions prevents phone calls!

[gw.hicks]

Hello All,
I have a Galaxy Note 4 that I love. It is running Android 6.0.1 operating system, which Google no longer provides updates for. IMHO, Google's cessation of support for my phone's OS is an attempt to force me to buy a new phone, similar to Apple slowing down their older phones to get they're owners to upgrade their phones, but I digress...

I recently turned off permissions to phone and contacts for Google Play Services. Afterwards, I began to get recurrent (annoyingly recurrent) Google Play services error notifications.

Today, I have found that I cannot make phone calls.

I do not think that Google Play Services should require phone and contact permissions to update my apps.

When I get a Google Play services error notification, if I press and hold the notification, it changes to "Google Pay."
I am not attempting to make any kind of purchase using Google Pay, I am just trying to make a phone call.

I am a diabetic, so it appears that I MUST to grant Google these permissions or RISK MY OWN LIFE.

What can I do about this other than writing my State and Federal Senators and Representatives and lodge a formal complaint?

 

[Hadron]

Google Play Services does not just update apps - you are confusing it with the Play Store. An awful lot of functions depend on that thing; think of it as an OS component that Google can update without waiting for the manufacturer to build and push a system update rather than an app and you will be closer to the truth.

That said, your phone app should not require Play Services to have phone permissions. I just tested with mine and it can make calls with that permission denied. But I do get stupid warnings in calls because I deny Play Services permissions that have nothing to do with calling, so I agree that Google try to push you into giving it unnecessary permissions for their convenience. If you think you can make a complaint to someone who will have some leverage with them please give it a shot - Google will certainly ignore ordinary users.

 

[gw.hicks]

Google Play Services does not just update apps - you are confusing it with the Play Store. An awful lot of functions depend on that thing; think of it as an OS component that Google can update without waiting for the manufacturer to build and push a system update rather than an app and you will be closer to the truth.

That said, your phone app should not require Play Services to have phone permissions. I just tested with mine and it can make calls with that permission denied. But I do get stupid warnings in calls because I deny Play Services permissions that have nothing to do with calling, so I agree that Google try to push you into giving it unnecessary permissions for their convenience. If you think you can make a complaint to someone who will have some leverage with them please give it a shot - Google will certainly ignore ordinary users.

Howdy Hadron, THANKS for your insight. I have looked into this and as I mentioned in my original post, when I pressed and held the notification, the title changed to Google Pay. So, I may have to uninstall that app first...

 

[Hadron]

I don't even have Google Pay installed, so can't test anything related to that.

Though it's curious that the "tap and pay" settings have Google Pay listed as the default even so, as opposed to showing no options at all. Maybe this is Google trying to steer people towards their service: you look at the settings, see their name, assume that's what you need to do? There's a lot of money in these mobile payment systems, plus the data that Google, the world's biggest advertising company, would get on your purchasing, so they certainly have the incentive to push people towards it (I'd also be utterly unsurprised to find that manufacturers with their own payment systems try to steer users towards using those rather than Google Pay, for exactly the same reasons).