4 ms·

Fastest way to get your app removed from my phone? Request additional permissions. Unfortunately there's little the developers can do about it, short of not ad

by rockdoe 13y ago

Fastest way to get your app removed from my phone? Request additional permissions. Unfortunately there's little the developers can do about it, short of not adding any features. You have to ask for every permissions your app could potentially need to use, upfront. You can't ask at point of use. This is a huge Android flaw.

sharpneli 13y ago
Another problem is that you need some permissions for even the most basic functionality. Let us assume I'm making a singleplayer game that happens to take more space than 50MB. For that I need internet and external storage write permissions in addition to network and wifi state etc (see http://developer.android.com/google/play/expansion-files.html#Permissions http://developer.android.com/google/play/expansion-files.htm...) And all this because the persons designing android thought that 50MB is enough for all applications and thus made their package manager to cap packages at 50MB. Imagine if .deb or .rpm would be 50MB max.
- dredmorbius 13y ago
  Writing to storage I can allow. Location, comms (absent some networking), messaging, address book / contacts, phone ID, Nope Nope Nope.
- lmm 13y ago
  If you want to use 50mb of my phone's flash space then yeah, you'd better have a good reason for that.
  - rockdoe 13y ago
    Requesting 50M+ of storage for a single player game is a good enough reason, that's not outrageous for graphics resources, music etc. But would you understand that this necessarily leads to the app having to request: <uses-permission android:name="com.android.vending.CHECK_LICENSE" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" /> as well?
dredmorbius 13y ago
If there's not a damned good reason I can see for you to need those perms, then it's "no fucking way". Pandora, my location and address book? Nope, nope, nope.
- rockdoe 13y ago
  The problem, as I've been trying to explain, is that if any other user does want a feature that somehow uses those perms, the app has to request them at install. There is just no other way on Android. Realistically you can only use apps that aren't developed further.
  - VLM 13y ago
    "any other user does want a feature that somehow uses those perms," Nobody "needs" or "deserves" or is "entitled" to my location and contact list merely because they would really like to spam me and my friends. If that is "development" then I don't want it. My contact list is absolutely positively none of their business and I will not cooperate with them. They need me a lot more than I need them, so we'll see how this turns out.
    - rockdoe 13y ago
      You misunderstood. If the app has any other users that want to use a feature that needs it on their phone the app maker has to request it on your phone too even if you would never use it. There are way more people that want new features from their apps than there are users that check the permissions list. This is a lost cause until Google fixes Android.
      - dredmorbius 13y ago
        And you misunderstand: for many of us, that's an absolute dead stop. It's also an ethical issue: my contact list isn't even mine -- it's other people's data, and their association with me. Even if I am OK providing it, there's no way I can assure that others are. Requesting contact lists is utterly immoral (and yes, so are companies which do it). What I'd like? What I'd like is granularity on this. I'd like to be able to mark my contact info off-limits. I'd like to duck the surveillance society altogether. I'd really like a legal framework which governs this stuff, as it doesn't seem there's any other way to get the changes I'd prefer. Yes, I'm aware that's going to cause a lot of pain for a lot of companies, but it's absolutely something they've brought on themselves with the present set of circumstances.
VLM 13y ago
My local credit union works fine in a browser, but their (cr)app (the cr is silent) wants access to my complete contact list, presumably for spamming purposes. Nope! Not happening. Other than that oddity in their outsourced app, they're a legit business, not scummy at all, which makes it weird. A place that specializes in financial transactions should probably stick to traditional protocols like a website and stay out of the (cr)app business. I want to do mobile banking. I don't want them to add the feature of "spam my friends and family" at all. No thanks!

by rockdoe 13y ago

sharpneli 13y ago

Another problem is that you need some permissions for even the most basic functionality. Let us assume I'm making a singleplayer game that happens to take more space than 50MB. For that I need internet and external storage write permissions in addition to network and wifi state etc (see http://developer.android.com/google/play/expansion-files.html#Permissions http://developer.android.com/google/play/expansion-files.htm...) And all this because the persons designing android thought that 50MB is enough for all applications and thus made their package manager to cap packages at 50MB. Imagine if .deb or .rpm would be 50MB max.

dredmorbius 13y ago
Writing to storage I can allow. Location, comms (absent some networking), messaging, address book / contacts, phone ID, Nope Nope Nope.
lmm 13y ago
If you want to use 50mb of my phone's flash space then yeah, you'd better have a good reason for that.
- rockdoe 13y ago
  Requesting 50M+ of storage for a single player game is a good enough reason, that's not outrageous for graphics resources, music etc. But would you understand that this necessarily leads to the app having to request: <uses-permission android:name="com.android.vending.CHECK_LICENSE" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WAKE_LOCK" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE" /> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE"/> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" /> as well?

dredmorbius 13y ago

If there's not a damned good reason I can see for you to need those perms, then it's "no fucking way". Pandora, my location and address book? Nope, nope, nope.

rockdoe 13y ago
The problem, as I've been trying to explain, is that if any other user does want a feature that somehow uses those perms, the app has to request them at install. There is just no other way on Android. Realistically you can only use apps that aren't developed further.
- VLM 13y ago
  "any other user does want a feature that somehow uses those perms," Nobody "needs" or "deserves" or is "entitled" to my location and contact list merely because they would really like to spam me and my friends. If that is "development" then I don't want it. My contact list is absolutely positively none of their business and I will not cooperate with them. They need me a lot more than I need them, so we'll see how this turns out.
  - rockdoe 13y ago
    You misunderstood. If the app has any other users that want to use a feature that needs it on their phone the app maker has to request it on your phone too even if you would never use it. There are way more people that want new features from their apps than there are users that check the permissions list. This is a lost cause until Google fixes Android.
    - dredmorbius 13y ago
      And you misunderstand: for many of us, that's an absolute dead stop. It's also an ethical issue: my contact list isn't even mine -- it's other people's data, and their association with me. Even if I am OK providing it, there's no way I can assure that others are. Requesting contact lists is utterly immoral (and yes, so are companies which do it). What I'd like? What I'd like is granularity on this. I'd like to be able to mark my contact info off-limits. I'd like to duck the surveillance society altogether. I'd really like a legal framework which governs this stuff, as it doesn't seem there's any other way to get the changes I'd prefer. Yes, I'm aware that's going to cause a lot of pain for a lot of companies, but it's absolutely something they've brought on themselves with the present set of circumstances.

VLM 13y ago

My local credit union works fine in a browser, but their (cr)app (the cr is silent) wants access to my complete contact list, presumably for spamming purposes. Nope! Not happening. Other than that oddity in their outsourced app, they're a legit business, not scummy at all, which makes it weird. A place that specializes in financial transactions should probably stick to traditional protocols like a website and stay out of the (cr)app business. I want to do mobile banking. I don't want them to add the feature of "spam my friends and family" at all. No thanks!