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Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

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Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#21

Post by Zikes »

This is exactly the feature I've been waiting for to update my old Facebook app install. Ever since they launched FB Home, the normal Facebook app has asked for exorbitant permissions including the ability to see all the apps I have installed and running and even draw on top of them. I've refused to update to that version because I don't want to use Home, and those permissions could easily have been restricted to just the Home application.

As others have mentioned I'm sure some app developers will resort to just erroring out if they can't access something they asked permission to access, but hopefully we'll be able to shame the bigger players away from that.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#22

Post by derleth »

eigenvector wrote: post #15
keltex wrote: post #9

It would be nice if there was also a "simulate" option for some permissions. That way the app would think it has a permission when it doesn't. It could return an empty phonebook for contacts or random location for GPS or confirm a SMS was sent when it never went out, etc.

That's exactly what Privacy Guard in CM does. https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/86LLXrDpVWY

Too bad CyanogenMod itself phones home to tell the developers about you.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#23

Post by gcb0 »

Being stuck with old phones has its advantages. My phone only runs CM7, which has this very same feature for some 2yrs.

It's called app goggles or something.

I block internet access to lots of apps thatdo not need,it. And most of them crash when they try to use it.

Eg. Swype tries to connect every time i reboot my phone. Not sure if they are just checking for updates or uploading my personal dict, but since it doesn't try to upload anything while I'm actually writing, i just watch it die every reboot and that is it.

Almost all games i tried i removed access to see running apps and contact list. Very few crashed, meaning they probably expose those api to ads, and they are not using them yet.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#24

Post by yareally »

derleth wrote: post #22
eigenvector wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's exactly what Privacy Guard in CM does. https://plus.google.com/+CyanogenMod/posts/86LLXrDpVWY

Too bad CyanogenMod itself phones home to tell the developers about you.

Only if you opt into it. It's an option under settings. They also tell you what they're sending. If you're truly paranoid, just block Google Analytics in your host file. That's all they're using.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#26

Post by dman »

This removes one of my pet peeves about android. Now please allow users full control over uninstalling non system applications. I hate that I cannot uninstall Facebook and Twitter on my HTC one. My past Droid Charge by Samsung (on Verizon) was even worse since it installed a whole bunch of useless applications that I had no way to uninstall. I hated that phone every single time I used it.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#27

Post by barend »

Zigurd wrote: post #14
hansjorg wrote: post #2

This looks very useful. The Android permission system is pretty good from a technical point of view, but since a lot of apps just require all permissions regardless, and people are trained to disregard this when installing, it's almost moot. I wonder if Google is using requested permissions in Play rankings. The apps which require _all_ permissions should definitely be ranked lower.

This lets you take those permissions away retrospectively. In many cases I suspect you will find it is a free app's ad network that's asking for ridiculous permissions, e.g. access to location in a flashlight app. Google is probably reluctant to do things that "harm" competing ad networks for fear of getting sued.

It would make little sense for the finished feature to work retrospectively; apps would just grab the bounty on first launch and then the harm is done before you can get to the settings screen. This looks more like the screen you'd go to if you change your mind about an app. I expect the primary control for this feature to be a just-in-time dialog, similar to permission popups on iOS.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#28

Post by veeti »

keltex wrote: post #9

It would be nice if there was also a "simulate" option for some permissions. That way the app would think it has a permission when it doesn't. It could return an empty phonebook for contacts or random location for GPS or confirm a SMS was sent when it never went out, etc.

The title of this post is misleading. App ops works exactly like that: it does not disable the permissions themselves but turns those API's into no-ops or returns dummy data from them. Aside from implementation bugs (like [1] which has killed my app completely) it should theoretically have no breaking effects on apps.

[1] https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=58043

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#29

Post by pat2man »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #18

Cue the piles of posted code snippets on StackOverflow and similar to uselessly error out on startup without the full set of requested permissions. Well-behaved apps won't ask for permissions they don't need anyway, and badly-behaved apps will simply refuse to run without all the permissions they (and their ad services) request. Without the ability to pretend to have the permission but not actually provide useful dat…

> badly-behaved apps will simply refuse to run without all the permissions they (and their ad services) request

If this were true it would be an issue on iOS. Its not.

Re: Hidden “App Ops” Feature in Android 4.3 Lets You Disable Permissions From Apps

#30

Post by zachlatta »

dman wrote: post #26

This removes one of my pet peeves about android. Now please allow users full control over uninstalling non system applications. I hate that I cannot uninstall Facebook and Twitter on my HTC one. My past Droid Charge by Samsung (on Verizon) was even worse since it installed a whole bunch of useless applications that I had no way to uninstall. I hated that phone every single time I used it.

That's on your carrier/manufacturer, not part of Android itself.
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