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Agreed. I wish iOS had a "network access" permissions just like Android does. (Though to avoid permission fatigue for the average user, perhaps make it somethi
by varenc 4y ago
Agreed. I wish iOS had a "network access" permissions just like Android does. (Though to avoid permission fatigue for the average user, perhaps make it something only users that care can deny)
That said, I think this is pretty unrelated to protecting yourself from nation state actors. Mercenary spyware (like NSO) doesn't use a legitimate app store app as their initial infection point. I can think of many reasons for this: difficulty getting target to install it, app store approvals, leaking their 0days, leaving more of a paper trail, and avoiding scrutiny in general, etc. I'd of course love this feature for my own data privacy of course.
- mcculley 4y ago> (Though to avoid permission fatigue for the average user, perhaps make it something only users that care can deny) Yeah, I would not want to have to approve every app. What I would like is a machine readable description of the app's capabilities to include Internet access, just as is required for access to the microphone or photos. This would encourage app developers to advertise to users that they don't need such capability and encourage users to realize that privacy and Internet access are mutually exclusive. There are many small apps I simply will not buy/install (e.g., apps for editing photos or contacts or calendars) because they cannot be trusted. Even if you trust the developer, the developers are often embedding third party analytics libraries that cannot be trusted.
- astrange 4y agoThis feature exists in Chinese iPhones because it's required by law there.
- derefr 4y agoIt's not exposed in the UI, but if you really care, you can just create yourself a configuration profile that disables various per-app permissions (including network access, per-domain/per-IP/per-certificate) on a fairly fine-grained basis. MDM yourself.
- jbverschoor 4y agoWould be interested in this with a simple interface
- Georgelemental 4y agoStock Android doesn't allow denying network permissions, it would eat into Google's ad revenue