6 ms·

Worst offender is google photos on iOS - you can’t even open the app without giving it all photos access. Selected photos doesn’t count. Even just to view photo

by lldb 3y ago

Worst offender is google photos on iOS - you can’t even open the app without giving it all photos access. Selected photos doesn’t count. Even just to view photos already saved in the cloud.

tobr 3y ago
Discussed recently on ATP[1] - this is a huge security hole. If you give access to all photos, apparently the app can search through the EXIF data to extract locations and timestamps, and build up a very accurate timeline of your whereabouts. 1: https://atp.fm/542 https://atp.fm/542
- spacebanana7 3y ago
  I wish Apple stripped sensitive metadata from photos by default when interacting with third party apps/sites. The few services that actually need this data could request an additional permission. As an app developer I don’t want users to send me location metadata with their photos, but there’s no easy way to communicate this to non-technical users.
- MBCook 3y ago
  Is it though? If you want Google Photos to back up your photo library… it needs full access to everything to do that. Very very few apps should need full photo access. But photo backups/cloud libraries are the one I can think of that do. I was actually surprised no one on ATP brought that up.
  - saagarjha 3y ago
    Ok but what if you don’t want to use Google Photos for that?
    - MBCook 3y ago
      Genuine question: what else does it do? I thought that was all it was for.
      - newaccount74 3y ago
        Answered upthread: > view photos already saved in the cloud
petesergeant 3y ago
Seems weird that an app needs to be able to tell if it got access to all or just some photos
labcomputer 3y ago
Almost as bad is the FLIR app. You have to give it permission to view all photos, or else it won't let you save a photo. iOS specifically has an API that allows saving photos without photo access.
crazygringo 3y ago
That's incorrect, I just tried it on iOS. When you open it, it defaults to the "Photos" tab which has a message (not a dialog) asking for all photos access. But if you switch to any other tab (like Search or Library) you've got access to all of your photos in the cloud. On the one hand you wouldn't realize that if you never tried tapping another tab. But on the other hand, the main "Photos" tab is designed to access all of your local photos and show whether or not they're backed up. Most (although not all) people are probably using Google Photos for this (to save local photos to the cloud), so it at least makes some sense for it to be the main tab with a prominent request.
- patch_cable 3y ago
  It’s partially correct. I installed the Google Photos app with the intention of sharing some photos from my phone to a shared album. As far as I can tell, it is not possible to give Google Photos access to a limited selection of photos. The app just tells you to go back and give access to all photos.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    You can access all your cloud photos without granting access to any local photos -- that was the main point. Yes you're correct that there's no way to give access to only selected local photos, but that permission also doesn't really make sense for the app. Its main purpose is to back up all of your photos automatically. If you want to upload individual photos just do it directly from photos.google.com. It's a single click. There's no reason to install the app at all.
- lldb 3y ago
  Just checked and it appears they’ve fixed this. For years it would occupy the entire screen and not permit accessing any other tabs. (You can find threads from last year discussing this). However they still don’t offer a way to upload specific photos, and if you attempt to share only selected photos in the ios settings app they detect that this isn’t all photos.
- theu 3y ago
theptip 3y ago
Agreed, so obnoxious, especially since as you say the OS has a “select some photos” permission setting that they should be able to play nice with.

by lldb 3y ago

Worst offender is google photos on iOS - you can’t even open the app without giving it all photos access. Selected photos doesn’t count. Even just to view photos already saved in the cloud.

tobr 3y ago

Discussed recently on ATP[1] - this is a huge security hole. If you give access to all photos, apparently the app can search through the EXIF data to extract locations and timestamps, and build up a very accurate timeline of your whereabouts. 1: https://atp.fm/542 https://atp.fm/542

spacebanana7 3y ago
I wish Apple stripped sensitive metadata from photos by default when interacting with third party apps/sites. The few services that actually need this data could request an additional permission. As an app developer I don’t want users to send me location metadata with their photos, but there’s no easy way to communicate this to non-technical users.
MBCook 3y ago
Is it though? If you want Google Photos to back up your photo library… it needs full access to everything to do that. Very very few apps should need full photo access. But photo backups/cloud libraries are the one I can think of that do. I was actually surprised no one on ATP brought that up.
- saagarjha 3y ago
  Ok but what if you don’t want to use Google Photos for that?
  - MBCook 3y ago
    Genuine question: what else does it do? I thought that was all it was for.
    - newaccount74 3y ago
      Answered upthread: > view photos already saved in the cloud

petesergeant 3y ago

Seems weird that an app needs to be able to tell if it got access to all or just some photos

labcomputer 3y ago

Almost as bad is the FLIR app. You have to give it permission to view all photos, or else it won't let you save a photo. iOS specifically has an API that allows saving photos without photo access.

crazygringo 3y ago

That's incorrect, I just tried it on iOS. When you open it, it defaults to the "Photos" tab which has a message (not a dialog) asking for all photos access. But if you switch to any other tab (like Search or Library) you've got access to all of your photos in the cloud. On the one hand you wouldn't realize that if you never tried tapping another tab. But on the other hand, the main "Photos" tab is designed to access all of your local photos and show whether or not they're backed up. Most (although not all) people are probably using Google Photos for this (to save local photos to the cloud), so it at least makes some sense for it to be the main tab with a prominent request.

patch_cable 3y ago
It’s partially correct. I installed the Google Photos app with the intention of sharing some photos from my phone to a shared album. As far as I can tell, it is not possible to give Google Photos access to a limited selection of photos. The app just tells you to go back and give access to all photos.
- crazygringo 3y ago
  You can access all your cloud photos without granting access to any local photos -- that was the main point. Yes you're correct that there's no way to give access to only selected local photos, but that permission also doesn't really make sense for the app. Its main purpose is to back up all of your photos automatically. If you want to upload individual photos just do it directly from photos.google.com. It's a single click. There's no reason to install the app at all.
lldb 3y ago
Just checked and it appears they’ve fixed this. For years it would occupy the entire screen and not permit accessing any other tabs. (You can find threads from last year discussing this). However they still don’t offer a way to upload specific photos, and if you attempt to share only selected photos in the ios settings app they detect that this isn’t all photos.
theu 3y ago

theptip 3y ago

Agreed, so obnoxious, especially since as you say the OS has a “select some photos” permission setting that they should be able to play nice with.