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A trick I found to stop this nonsense is, at least on iOS, answer yes to the Application's custom dialog to ask permission. This will then invoke the iOS securi

A trick I found to stop this nonsense is, at least on iOS, answer yes to the Application's custom dialog to ask permission. This will then invoke the iOS security dialog where you can click "No" and never be asked again. Generally what I see happening is apps will ask the user if it's okay, and only when the user says yes will they execute the necessary system call to request access. In iOS at least, if a user clicks No the app can never prompt for that permission ever again. Until the app makes this formal request to the operating system, it does not show up under privacy (as the app had never asked for it in the first place).

lonelappde 7y ago
What does Apple allow that for App Store apls? That's obvious circumvention of iOS's privacy control regime.
- toast0 7y ago
  My post below is wrong, please move along. Keeping as-is, so the replies make sense. Thanks repliers! The native prompts don't allow for app specific explanatory text to be presented. I haven't reviewed iOS guidelines, but Google provides guidance to inform users of why you're asking for permissions before you do it, and I would guess Apple would suggest the same as well. Pestering people for access once a day is probably not within the scope of the guidelines though.
  - cactus2093 7y ago
    Incorrect, iOS does allow explanatory text on the system prompt, in fact it’s required. There is no good reason for Apple to allow apps to mask permission requests with their own dialogs, it’s just a case of not bothering to fix this loophole.
  - diebeforei485 7y ago
    > The native prompts don't allow for app specific explanatory text to be presented Not true. iOS apps can specify explanatory text to be included in the native prompt. In fact they are required to do this, since at least two years ago. The NSContactsUsageDescription string (in the Info.plist file) is the place to specify this. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/CocoaKeys.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009251-SW14 https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Ge...
  - megablast 7y ago
    Why do people keep saying clearly wrong stuff. You sound like you know what you are talking about, but are 100% wrong.
vincentmarle 7y ago
Your friends/family probably won’t do this, so your phone number is going to be shared with Twitter anyways.
- cameronbrown 7y ago
  Well then the obvious solution is to start treating phone numbers as you would an email address - effectively public. I would love a version of privacy.com for phone numbers..
  - vageli 7y ago
    > Well then the obvious solution is to start treating phone numbers as you would an email address - effectively public. > I would love a version of privacy.com for phone numbers.. I've used google voice and twilio for something similar, though nowhere near as plug and play as a privacy.com-like solution.
  - amalcon 7y ago
    Start? It wasn't that long ago that the phone company published a book with near everyone's phone number in it.
    - jacobsenscott 7y ago
      There was no book with everyone's phone number in it. There were many books that covered small regions. If you lived in Oshkosh Wisconsin and wanted the number for someone in Kansas City, or even Madison Wisconsin it wasn't that easy to get that book. Maybe your library had it. Phone numbers on paper aren't that useful. You can't robodial a paper phone book without hiring actual people. But no matter what you couldn't get millions of phone numbers while sitting on your couch, and if you could they would be useless because they were all on paper.
      - amalcon 7y ago
        None of that let you treat your phone number as anything other than public.
diebeforei485 7y ago
Ideally, iOS would have an option to say "always deny Contacts access and never bring up a dialog again". I don't share my contacts with any app, and I hate being asked again and again for every single new app. No means no.
- twodave 7y ago
  Actually for most things in iOS, once the system dialog has been brought up, the operating system won't allow it to be brought up again. It won't stop the application in question from nagging you, but at least then even if you click "allow" on the application pop-up the system will still require you to go into the app permissions and explicitly allow it.
- realusername 7y ago
  That's exactly what iOS does, the app is making a fake system popup to ask multiple times and only brings you the real system popup if you agreed to the first one.
ngvrnd 7y ago
this worked for me also.
hk__2 7y ago
Note this trick is also generalizable to apps/websites asking for notification permissions.
russum 7y ago
I've had apps ask me to go to system settings myself to enable some permissions because I've disabled it via the said OS prompt.
loco5niner 7y ago
Similar to being asked "do you like this app?" If you say "Yes", you are directed to rate it, if "No", you are not.

lonelappde 7y ago

What does Apple allow that for App Store apls? That's obvious circumvention of iOS's privacy control regime.

toast0 7y ago
My post below is wrong, please move along. Keeping as-is, so the replies make sense. Thanks repliers! The native prompts don't allow for app specific explanatory text to be presented. I haven't reviewed iOS guidelines, but Google provides guidance to inform users of why you're asking for permissions before you do it, and I would guess Apple would suggest the same as well. Pestering people for access once a day is probably not within the scope of the guidelines though.
- cactus2093 7y ago
  Incorrect, iOS does allow explanatory text on the system prompt, in fact it’s required. There is no good reason for Apple to allow apps to mask permission requests with their own dialogs, it’s just a case of not bothering to fix this loophole.
- diebeforei485 7y ago
  > The native prompts don't allow for app specific explanatory text to be presented Not true. iOS apps can specify explanatory text to be included in the native prompt. In fact they are required to do this, since at least two years ago. The NSContactsUsageDescription string (in the Info.plist file) is the place to specify this. https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/CocoaKeys.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009251-SW14 https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Ge...
- megablast 7y ago
  Why do people keep saying clearly wrong stuff. You sound like you know what you are talking about, but are 100% wrong.

vincentmarle 7y ago

Your friends/family probably won’t do this, so your phone number is going to be shared with Twitter anyways.

cameronbrown 7y ago
Well then the obvious solution is to start treating phone numbers as you would an email address - effectively public. I would love a version of privacy.com for phone numbers..
- vageli 7y ago
  > Well then the obvious solution is to start treating phone numbers as you would an email address - effectively public. > I would love a version of privacy.com for phone numbers.. I've used google voice and twilio for something similar, though nowhere near as plug and play as a privacy.com-like solution.
- amalcon 7y ago
  Start? It wasn't that long ago that the phone company published a book with near everyone's phone number in it.
  - jacobsenscott 7y ago
    There was no book with everyone's phone number in it. There were many books that covered small regions. If you lived in Oshkosh Wisconsin and wanted the number for someone in Kansas City, or even Madison Wisconsin it wasn't that easy to get that book. Maybe your library had it. Phone numbers on paper aren't that useful. You can't robodial a paper phone book without hiring actual people. But no matter what you couldn't get millions of phone numbers while sitting on your couch, and if you could they would be useless because they were all on paper.
    - amalcon 7y ago
      None of that let you treat your phone number as anything other than public.

diebeforei485 7y ago

Ideally, iOS would have an option to say "always deny Contacts access and never bring up a dialog again". I don't share my contacts with any app, and I hate being asked again and again for every single new app. No means no.

twodave 7y ago
Actually for most things in iOS, once the system dialog has been brought up, the operating system won't allow it to be brought up again. It won't stop the application in question from nagging you, but at least then even if you click "allow" on the application pop-up the system will still require you to go into the app permissions and explicitly allow it.
realusername 7y ago
That's exactly what iOS does, the app is making a fake system popup to ask multiple times and only brings you the real system popup if you agreed to the first one.

ngvrnd 7y ago

this worked for me also.

hk__2 7y ago

Note this trick is also generalizable to apps/websites asking for notification permissions.

russum 7y ago

I've had apps ask me to go to system settings myself to enable some permissions because I've disabled it via the said OS prompt.

loco5niner 7y ago

Similar to being asked "do you like this app?" If you say "Yes", you are directed to rate it, if "No", you are not.