Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

mastodon.gamedev.place

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 413 posts

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#221

Post by H8crilA »

kubik369 wrote: post #206

I am surprised no top comment mentions this — on iOS, you cannot distinguish if you were granted a permission or not. As an example, if an app asks you for access to your photos, it will always get an array. The trick is that when you deny this permission, the array will be empty, so you cannot know if the user simply has an empty library or if he denied you access. I like it, simple and elegant. Naturally, in the ca…

How does that work for location?

Also, an empty folder with photos is almost certainly implying lack of permissions. Very few people never took a picture.

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#222

Post by jddj »

freedomben wrote: post #75
EA-3167 wrote: post #62

Earlier 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…

I only go to F-droid for these utility apps.

Guitar tuners, flashlights, QR scanners, etc. Open source hobby-sized projects which are done when they're done.

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#223

Post by grishka »

l33t233372 wrote: post #185
grishka wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might not be as much of a problem in the US, but it is a real pain in the ass people have to contend with, for example, in Russia. I've seen it myself. Apple is enforcing US sanctions against some Russian companies, which means they can't have an iOS app. At all. I heard stories about how a sanctioned bank would load some kind of shadily signed copy of its app onto people's iPhones in branches. For Android, that s…

This sounds like a good thing; the sanctions are working as intended.

Did sanctions really intend to affect regular people who have exactly zero say in the matter though?

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#224

Post by grishka »

l33t233372 wrote: post #186
grishka wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be illegal for a device manufacturer to retain any kind of control over devices after sale. Some governments are finally realizing this. So no, this is not a viable solution in the long run. Besides, Android is a thing. I personally have never used an iPhone as my real phone precisely because of this — I can't install modded apps, I can't install pirated apps, etc etc. It's not okay to have to jailbreak the…

What if I (like so many others) want my device manufacturer to retain some kind of control of my device after sale?

You will act as if app store is still the only way to install apps on your iPhone.

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#225

Post by marvin »

floomk wrote: post #211
ryandrake wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good question! We actually asked Apple exactly this when appealing the AppStore de-listing. How come others can require an account and we can't? What was it about our app that made us have to spend the engineering effort to add a guest login (this was a disingenuous argument that I advised against, since we deliberately spent engineering effort to require the login)? Their response, not the exact wording since it was…

> We're reviewing your app, not theirs, so what they can do is irrelevant rules for thee but not for me Apple has never been fair with its review, sadly. > I would expect Apple's response to be "change it back". Companies should not have to bend over to apple's whims just to get their software in end user hands. Hopefully upcoming EU regulation will reign apple's overreach in a bit.

You’re celebrating the possibility that EU regulation will remove Apple’s ability to enforce good user experience?

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#226

Post by grishka »

wruza wrote: post #179
grishka wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be illegal for a device manufacturer to retain any kind of control over devices after sale. Some governments are finally realizing this. So no, this is not a viable solution in the long run. Besides, Android is a thing. I personally have never used an iPhone as my real phone precisely because of this — I can't install modded apps, I can't install pirated apps, etc etc. It's not okay to have to jailbreak the…

So you and me have both worlds to choose from (not gonna reiterate pros/cons hundredth time). You are living in yours, but I have to lose mine. By me I mean all those people who chose Apple for what it is and ignore Android for what it is, with regards to what we’re talking about. You have no real problem, only intrusive ideology. Please relax and leave us alone. We’ll speak for ourselves when we feel wronged.

As an app developer, I do have a very real problem. I don't want Apple to impose their agenda on me and act like they own the relationship between me and my users. In particular, Apple should have no opinion on what kind of UGC my app contains if it's rated 18+. Apple should also stop protecting their own products by rejecting apps that cut into their market. But of course, Apple would do none of these things voluntarily, so that's where regulators need to step in.

If you want your device to be controlled by Apple, keep installing apps exclusively from the app store when the sideloading inevitably comes. Just like you can already choose to do on macOS.

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#227

Post by YmiYugy »

Using top down regulation by app stores seems like a better way to deal with the issue of apps refusing to work without a permission that don't really need. Imagine the amount of needless support requests that will be triggered by people accidentally pressing the wrong thing.

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#228

Post by dagmx »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #208
dagmx wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It prevents you from taking high resolution recordings , whether they’re screenshots or video. You either take a low resolution capture or the DRM layer prevents content from being displayed when recording. The legality of the subject is not something I’m talking about. You just asked for examples and I provided them.

For starters, it does nothing at all to prevent taking screen shots. Which is what this thread is about. As for high quality video capture, it is trivially easy to do. How do you think high quality copies of Netflix-only content ends up on the pirate bay they same day it comes out?

Yes it does prevent taking screenshots of high resolution playback. Your options become low resolution capture or nothing.

High quality captures are still possible if you connect an external capture device coupled with something that provides the necessary drm authentication or you need a software based drm defeat.

Neither are “trivial” as you say.

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#229

Post by [deleted] »

marvin wrote: post #225
floomk wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We're reviewing your app, not theirs, so what they can do is irrelevant rules for thee but not for me Apple has never been fair with its review, sadly. > I would expect Apple's response to be "change it back". Companies should not have to bend over to apple's whims just to get their software in end user hands. Hopefully upcoming EU regulation will reign apple's overreach in a bit.

You’re celebrating the possibility that EU regulation will remove Apple’s ability to enforce good user experience?

[deleted]

Re: When an app asks for permissions, it should have a “feed fake data” option

#230

Post by [deleted] »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #89
lexicality wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eugenics aside, people very regularly follow satnav directions completely blindly, the most recent one I can think of being the person who drove directly into the sea in Hawaii. If there's an opportunity for learning, it's not being taken

You say "very regularly" but when was the last time you saw/heard about that happening? I'm in the UK and I saw that Hawaii story and I can't remember hearing about anything similar for years. So my conclusion is that, out of an 8bn population, one or two making such a mistake once every few years is nothing.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN