What You Should Know About Android Permissions

Applications and games are the reasons why some of us opt for the biggest and speccist phones in town, yet we neglect little things that calls for big concerns when we use our Smartphones.

80% of the world mobile phones are Android based and only a quarter of that percentage literally care about their app permissions usage. Their are millions of applications on PlayStore that have different permissions due to there various usage, it should be clear that not all apps therein use "Required permissions".

Let me explain the "Required Permissions"

Applications are created to serve a purpose and if the purpose of such application is to take pictures or use a microphone, a camera and voice recording permission would be required for that application to work effectively - they are "Required Permissions".

While some applications may use "Required Permissions" that are mandatory for application effectiveness, others might make use of Inessential Permissions that are not intended for its usage.

What Does Inessential Permissions do ?

Some applications might use permissions they don't need, A Love quote app should not use a camera or a voice recording permission, its dumb or a mistake.
Lets say a app that uses 30 app permissions is wrong or suspicious.

Camera Permission in picture below:

How To Manage Permissions:

If you don't understand the tech behind permissions usage, you can use Permission Managers to monitor Apps that uses  permissions.

The permission manager will prompt you with a toast every time a permission is about to be used.

Below are Permissions  being used by Apps:

• Camera (for Camera apps like camera360, Pixlr, etc)

• Turn on/off Data (used by apps that require internet connection)

• Call logs (used by Truecaller, Contact apps, WhatsApp and apps that require contacts logs data) - Apps like Facebook use this feature for suggesting friends from your recent call log

• Read contacts (Used by Phonebook, WhatsApp and apps that ) - Apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and others use this feature for suggesting people whose contacts are registered on their platform.

• Read/Write to memory (used by File managers, clipboard manager, etc)

• Send MMS (used by any multimedia app)

• Receive SMS (used by messaging apps)

• Receive MMS (used by messaging apps)

• Voice Recording (used by sound recorder apps like Caller)

• Get Position (GPS)

• Initiate multi-party calls

• Use HotKnot (for MediaTek devices)

• Turn on/off WiFi

• Turn on Bluetooth, etc.

What Apps With Inessential Permission Can Do:

• Make calls without your authorization

• Send and receive messages without your authorization

• Turn on data to install apps without your approval

• Record voice conversations with your notice

And lots of stuffs like that.

NOTE:

Always ensure apps uses the permission they require, else -  monitor or delete !!!.

Most MTK devices like Xiaomi, Tecno, Infinix and the rest sometimes come with a built-in permission manager, always enable it (its usually a lock symbol)

Some Permission Managers for Your Android:

• Permission Manager - App 

• App Ops

• App Permission Manager

DISCLAIMER:

Apps Listed above for downloads are for Evaluation purposes (Trial), Do Endeavour to get the App at Google's PlayStore or Official site.