4 ms·

I recently bought my first Android device and found Google Play infested with apps that want my location, access to network, list all my apps AND send adverts.

I recently bought my first Android device and found Google Play infested with apps that want my location, access to network, list all my apps AND send adverts. Google is assisting them by adding extra steps to find out what permissions app requests. Also, it appears, that Android is opting you in, unless permissions are configured before starting the app. Because of that, there are apps with sole purpose of tricking you into installing it so it can get your data. I found that many Android apps, that are also available on IOS, insist on location data and refuse to run, whereas they run fine w/o it enabled on IOS.

tialaramex 5y ago
> want my location Location access attempts result in a prompt, asking whether you want the app to have access to your location. You can give it access once, only when it's active, or even in the background (the latter might make sense for a fitness app/ mileage tracking app/ that sort of thing). It's your choice.
- antattack 5y ago
  I had an app (that did not need location to function) that refused to continue if location was not enabled fully.
  - 3np 5y ago
    Was it a Google app? If not I hardly think Google's to blame for that. There's a lot I'm concerned of with Google and I'm not happy with a lot of ways they're doing things, but it's really up to ourselves not to use such apps. At least they have to explicitly ask for your permission. If you buy a Pixel, I don't think there should be such crap? A lot of times it's the manufacturers. Samsung is a terrible offender in this category, I regret my most recent Galaxy phone and will not make that mistake again. Unless you run a self-flashed OSS OS, the least invasive choices for mobile seem to be Apple, followed by vanilla Android on Google Pixel (but then you might as well run GrapheneOS).

4 ms·

I recently bought my first Android device and found Google Play infested with apps that want my location, access to network, list all my apps AND send adverts.

by antattack 5y ago

tialaramex 5y ago
> want my location Location access attempts result in a prompt, asking whether you want the app to have access to your location. You can give it access once, only when it's active, or even in the background (the latter might make sense for a fitness app/ mileage tracking app/ that sort of thing). It's your choice.
- antattack 5y ago
  I had an app (that did not need location to function) that refused to continue if location was not enabled fully.
  - 3np 5y ago
    Was it a Google app? If not I hardly think Google's to blame for that. There's a lot I'm concerned of with Google and I'm not happy with a lot of ways they're doing things, but it's really up to ourselves not to use such apps. At least they have to explicitly ask for your permission. If you buy a Pixel, I don't think there should be such crap? A lot of times it's the manufacturers. Samsung is a terrible offender in this category, I regret my most recent Galaxy phone and will not make that mistake again. Unless you run a self-flashed OSS OS, the least invasive choices for mobile seem to be Apple, followed by vanilla Android on Google Pixel (but then you might as well run GrapheneOS).