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There needs to be serious scrutiny to amount of network traffic that an app can have on iOS/Android. For applications such as WhatsApp/TikTok/Snapchat, etc., th

There needs to be serious scrutiny to amount of network traffic that an app can have on iOS/Android. For applications such as WhatsApp/TikTok/Snapchat, etc., there needs to be a new controller/view for accessing private information such as the address book. This view will allow the user to see all of the contacts and select one to call, only then the app has access to that particular contact. Just simply allowing full access to address book is reckless. Ability to screenshot should also be completely disabled. Any other ideas? It is just a normal thing to accept access to Contacts or Photos, and all of a sudden, all of your data is being siphoned off. The more I see this kind of stuff, the more terrified I am about the future. Data doesn't just erode away. 40 years later, it is going to bite us.

big_chungus 7y ago
Apps will probably just demand access to the whole contact list to continue. Apple does have a realistic chance of at least reducing this via app store guidelines, though I doubt it would succeed on Android.
JoshTriplett 7y ago
> For applications such as WhatsApp/TikTok/Snapchat, etc., there needs to be a new controller/view for accessing private information such as the address book. This view will allow the user to see all of the contacts and select one to call, only then the app has access to that particular contact. This is what Android already does. Without any special permission, an app can ask the user to choose a contact, a photo, a freshly snapped image from the camera, or various other things, and the app gets access to what the user explicitly gives it. That is what almost every app should do.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  iOS has a similar thing for photos, but apps don’t use it. (The reason that the “give us your entire photo album API” exists is ostensibly so you can show it using your own UI. The number of apps that abuse this reason is very high, including some that absolutely should know better–as in, they’re market towards privacy-conscious users.)

big_chungus 7y ago

Apps will probably just demand access to the whole contact list to continue. Apple does have a realistic chance of at least reducing this via app store guidelines, though I doubt it would succeed on Android.

JoshTriplett 7y ago

> For applications such as WhatsApp/TikTok/Snapchat, etc., there needs to be a new controller/view for accessing private information such as the address book. This view will allow the user to see all of the contacts and select one to call, only then the app has access to that particular contact. This is what Android already does. Without any special permission, an app can ask the user to choose a contact, a photo, a freshly snapped image from the camera, or various other things, and the app gets access to what the user explicitly gives it. That is what almost every app should do.

saagarjha 7y ago
iOS has a similar thing for photos, but apps don’t use it. (The reason that the “give us your entire photo album API” exists is ostensibly so you can show it using your own UI. The number of apps that abuse this reason is very high, including some that absolutely should know better–as in, they’re market towards privacy-conscious users.)