That's the guy who made the first successful indie games within a deep forest and knytt.
https://nifflas.ni2.se/games/
When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
121–130 of 413 posts
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#122As an app developer I do not like this idea. You want to break the contract on what that permission is intended to be. ("Weather the Trip" road trip weather app for the U.S.)
As an app user, I want you as an app developer to have no control whatsoever over how I use your app and no way whatsoever to know if any data it gets from my device is real.
For Android versions 8-12 there's XPrivacyLua, which will override the system APIs to feed apps fake data if you wish to do so. It requires a rooted device, obviously, but its predecessor worked like a dream last time I've tried it.
These days I'm more of a "one star review and uninstall" kind of user but I've had good experiences with XPrivacy.
Sadly, XPrivacyLua has been discontinued. I don't know any alternative for modern Android releases.
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Apps should be required to gracefully handle the cases where users deny permission to access real data Or else? You're suggesting an organizational solution to a technical problem. This can't possibly work. Fake data is the only practical solution to this, such that the app would see the permission as granted when it is not actually granted.
else not be allowed in the App Store, a stick apple is more than happy to wield
Unless you are some big name that they can't afford to lose
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
Some websites will check whether you have notifications enabled and spawn an in-page pop up requesting access before they trigger the actual, native browser request. So ideally this would stop that from happening.
The best response to those websites is closing them and blocking them in your DNS blacklist to be honest. Either that, or full their newsletter subscription box with a million fake email addresses.
Yeah that's fair. It feels like we're in an anti-pattern arms race and choosing to not participate is a valid call.
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Your browser does not have DRM support which typically means you are not sent the full quality videos To take this argument seriously I’d need you to provide some examples. I use some of the bis streaming services, and they all stream full high quality media to my laptop. Which are the ones that don’t? > And not all media apps have a website. Again, examples? Every streaming app that’s ever blocked me from taking a…
Netflix won’t send your browser high resolution video unless your browser supports Widevine. Typically it’ll restrict you to 480p iirc.
Which doesn’t prevent you from taking screenshots… (and doesn’t make it especially difficult to just capture the whole stream either)
This whole screenshot point is silly to begin with, because screenshots aren’t a form of piracy or copyright infringement.
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
Worse, you can't even initiate conversations; if you've denied contacts access, the other user has to message you first. At least for me on Android, which is wild.
The iOS shows a phone number input if you try to initiate a chat and have contacts permissions disabled. I'm not sure whether that's because it's to comply with app store regulations, or the product owners on both sides prioritizing different things. On both platforms you can still initiate chats without contacts access by using the wa.me domain, eg. wa.me/12125551234 for +1 (212) 555 1234.
Sometimes I need to contact somebody on Whatsapp one time or such, and I don't want to save their contact. But Whatsapp on Android shows only my own contacts to initiate chat. Like you said, wa.me is a way. I made this quick page for exactly this:
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#127As an app developer I do not like this idea. You want to break the contract on what that permission is intended to be. ("Weather the Trip" road trip weather app for the U.S.)
As an app user, I want you as an app developer to have no control whatsoever over how I use your app and no way whatsoever to know if any data it gets from my device is real.
Great :thumbs up: it does that
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps the standard should be, "If you are required to have an account to use this service, on or off the app, then you can require it on the app." For context that would mean that to browse a site like Hacker News, you couldn't require an account, but to post you could. It covers things like Banks or Steam, etc. Would that be workable?
That seems like a great policy to me. I bought a guitar tuner app in the past and that's exactly and all it did: act as a tuner. But it then got acquired by a company that sells guitar lessons and other things, and they completely f-ed up the app and it requires an account and a subscription now if you want to tune your guitar. Fortunately there are other options in the Play Store, but I paid like $15 or $20 for it a…
Was that DaTuner? I got really annoyed by that too.
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#129I’m all for the “fake data” idea, but also: Apps should be required to gracefully handle the cases where users deny permission to access real data. I know last time I developed for iOS, it was Apple’s policy that apps cannot punish users or exit() the app in retaliation for them denying a permission. Apps must gracefully handle it and continue running. Also, and this was even longer ago, apps could not require users…
> Apps must gracefully handle it and continue running. Would this include… not doing anything? A notice that to use the app that you must grant access? I hate apps that do that … BUT: I am thinking of a logistics application that I wrote that requires location access. It effectively serves no purpose without location access. It’s a small app that we offer to our clients. Not an app for the general public. But it is a…
It depends on the app. For example, I can’t view my balance in my banking app if I don’t sign in to an account, but I can find nearby ATMs or pull up the number for customer service.
The logistics app could offer some features like phone numbers, support hours, or even account management features without location access, so users can still get access to those things even if they can’t enable location (or are in Airplane Mode, for instance).
And then the core part of the app could have a message explaining why location access is essential. Perhaps with a link to a privacy policy or other document to explain how it will be used and handled safely. I love apps that do that and even have a button I can tap to go straight to the proper settings screen to grant access (or in some cases I can tap and the app will request again, so I can say yes this time).
Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Google Maps: “Turn right” >Guy driving alongside the ocean: “ok” >Car: *splash* This seems like a learning opportunity. Or a Darwinian opportunity. Either way, self-solving.
That feeling when hacker news user endorses eugenics as long as its just stupid people.
I'm not even remotely suggesting eugenics. What I am saying, in a rather tongue in cheek manner, is that sooner or later your own judgement needs to come into play and driving into the water because the voice told you to is probably a self-inflicted injury. There's only so much hand holding you can do to protect people from themselves, and coddling isn't a long term solution for anything.