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Giving & taking back photos & camera access is pain in the ass. Apple already solved this exact issue with location, where you can grant it for one time only a

by samat 7y ago

Giving & taking back photos & camera access is pain in the ass. Apple already solved this exact issue with location, where you can grant it for one time only and be re-asked next time. Hope they use the same mechanics with camera & photos.

saagarjha 7y ago
Granting one-time access to photos means Facebook can just copy them all and keep them.
- Flockster 7y ago
  It could be the other way around, the App calling an OS Picker, where the user decides which photo to give to the app.
  - alexanderchr 7y ago
    This is already how apps access files (except for files in the app's own directory). Don't see why Apple couldn't make it work the same for photos.
    - snuxoll 7y ago
      It does, but apps want to customize the experience instead of using the OS provided picker for some annoying reason. At least they should fallback if you deny access to your library, I’d like to see Apple mandate that.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    This already exists; apps have to opt-in to using it and a Facebook (among many other apps) refuses to.
  - chopin 7y ago
    Android has "intents", which do exactly this. But you need to explicitly code against that.
traskjd 7y ago
They're so user hostile that they don't even allow you to copy and paste pictures. You MUST save them, giving them access. Honestly, I have no idea how one company can be so horrible. It's like they read the site about Dark Patterns and asked themselves: What if we combined them ALL?
- GuiA 7y ago
  They don’t even let you copy text! We’re losing the most basic computing affordances that we’ve taken for granted over the past half century.
  - input_sh 7y ago
    That's precisely why, instead of an app, I have a browser shortcut on my home screen for Twitter/reddit (I don't use Facebook on my phone). I can select the text and do with it what I please, with no artificial restrictions.
    - GuiA 7y ago
      I can’t even copy text on Facebook.com with iOS Safari.
      - bschwindHN 7y ago
        Yep, this is infuriating when I want to translate something not in English.
- IgorPartola 7y ago
  Have you read anything from or about Zuck? Remember when he said that everyone around him is sheep? And then there was a brief period of time when everyone thought he grew up? And then turns out he didn’t. Oops.
  - orev 7y ago
    Why would he? The way he does things is very clearly working, as he is one of the most successful people on Earth by typical measurements. Everything he has done has been validated as “the right thing” by the market.
chris72205 7y ago
They also don't give you just read or just write options for photos -- you have to allow read & write or none at all.
- snailmailman 7y ago
  Apps can choose to have “add Photos only” access, but the app has to give you that option. For me, looks like the only app I use with those permissions is Pokémon Go. I don’t think it’s very common.
  - Terretta 7y ago
    Apollo for Reddit does it, a few others. It's the clearly most user-friendly option for folks not trying to scavenge your photo feed. Another option is to accept photos via share sheet.
enobrev 7y ago
There's an app called "Bouncer" on Android that does this system-wide. Upon installation (with your permission) it disables all permissions for all apps and then any time you enable a permission for an app, it will ask if you want to keep it, disallow it, or schedule it to be disabled after a specified amount of time. It's imperfect, but works fairly well.
- vageli 7y ago
  Many apps seem to fail (rather, they insist you regrant the lost perms) if you manually remove the permissions, does this also happen with Bouncer?
  - enobrev 7y ago
    I've run into a couple apps that essentially won't run without the disabled perm, and Airbnb literally won't start without perms - no re-ask or anything. I generally put that on the dev and decide if the app is worth it at that point. That's also why the scheduled perms are nice, where I can enable the perm for a few minutes or until I close the app.

by samat 7y ago

saagarjha 7y ago

Granting one-time access to photos means Facebook can just copy them all and keep them.

Flockster 7y ago
It could be the other way around, the App calling an OS Picker, where the user decides which photo to give to the app.
- alexanderchr 7y ago
  This is already how apps access files (except for files in the app's own directory). Don't see why Apple couldn't make it work the same for photos.
  - snuxoll 7y ago
    It does, but apps want to customize the experience instead of using the OS provided picker for some annoying reason. At least they should fallback if you deny access to your library, I’d like to see Apple mandate that.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  This already exists; apps have to opt-in to using it and a Facebook (among many other apps) refuses to.
- chopin 7y ago
  Android has "intents", which do exactly this. But you need to explicitly code against that.

traskjd 7y ago

They're so user hostile that they don't even allow you to copy and paste pictures. You MUST save them, giving them access. Honestly, I have no idea how one company can be so horrible. It's like they read the site about Dark Patterns and asked themselves: What if we combined them ALL?

GuiA 7y ago
They don’t even let you copy text! We’re losing the most basic computing affordances that we’ve taken for granted over the past half century.
- input_sh 7y ago
  That's precisely why, instead of an app, I have a browser shortcut on my home screen for Twitter/reddit (I don't use Facebook on my phone). I can select the text and do with it what I please, with no artificial restrictions.
  - GuiA 7y ago
    I can’t even copy text on Facebook.com with iOS Safari.
    - bschwindHN 7y ago
      Yep, this is infuriating when I want to translate something not in English.
IgorPartola 7y ago
Have you read anything from or about Zuck? Remember when he said that everyone around him is sheep? And then there was a brief period of time when everyone thought he grew up? And then turns out he didn’t. Oops.
- orev 7y ago
  Why would he? The way he does things is very clearly working, as he is one of the most successful people on Earth by typical measurements. Everything he has done has been validated as “the right thing” by the market.

chris72205 7y ago

They also don't give you just read or just write options for photos -- you have to allow read & write or none at all.

snailmailman 7y ago
Apps can choose to have “add Photos only” access, but the app has to give you that option. For me, looks like the only app I use with those permissions is Pokémon Go. I don’t think it’s very common.
- Terretta 7y ago
  Apollo for Reddit does it, a few others. It's the clearly most user-friendly option for folks not trying to scavenge your photo feed. Another option is to accept photos via share sheet.

enobrev 7y ago

There's an app called "Bouncer" on Android that does this system-wide. Upon installation (with your permission) it disables all permissions for all apps and then any time you enable a permission for an app, it will ask if you want to keep it, disallow it, or schedule it to be disabled after a specified amount of time. It's imperfect, but works fairly well.

vageli 7y ago
Many apps seem to fail (rather, they insist you regrant the lost perms) if you manually remove the permissions, does this also happen with Bouncer?
- enobrev 7y ago
  I've run into a couple apps that essentially won't run without the disabled perm, and Airbnb literally won't start without perms - no re-ask or anything. I generally put that on the dev and decide if the app is worth it at that point. That's also why the scheduled perms are nice, where I can enable the perm for a few minutes or until I close the app.