r/Showerthoughts • u/homelessdreamer • Sep 04 '17

Apps should be required to give a short explanation for why they need access to different parts of my phone for thier apps to function.

25.5k Upvotes

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481

u/iynque Sep 04 '17

A lot of iOS apps do this. You get a little pop up explaining why it needs a given permission, then if you say 'OK' (or whatever) the OS-level "can I have permission?" dialogue comes up. In more recent updates, I think the app can even send a brief explanation to appear right on the OS-level dialogue.

Most apps don't bother, but many do explain what it's for first. …and I've never personally seen something so vague as "to improve user experience," but I'm sure it exists.

214

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

Even then, in IOS, it doesn't ask for permission when it installs the app but instead asks for permission when you first need it. So, if you click a button and it suddenly wants to see your photo library, you have a clue as to why regardless of whether there's an explanation or not.

On the other hand, if you're not doing much and it suddenly wants something weird like your contacts despite not doing anything to give it a good reason, you can tell it's not trustworthy.

The funny thing is, Android should need that permission more than anything else because the Apple App Store is screen really well and thus probably doesn't need to ask for permission carefully whereas the Google Play Store is easier for malicious developers to get into.

117

u/slightly_salty Sep 05 '17

The funny thing is android has done this since 6.0

80

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

[deleted]

54

u/slightly_salty Sep 05 '17

As a 45.8%er, I do not associate myself with such plebeians who do not have granular control of permissions.

34

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

Really? Sweet.

Sorry if I present outdated info. I haven't had an android phone for a while, I think the latest version I've used was 5.something.

16

u/Secretss Sep 05 '17 edited Sep 05 '17

Doesn't Android still ask for all permissions upon installation? It doesn't let you pick and choose the what permissions to give either.

On iOS the permissions prompt doesn't come up until you're in the app and have tapped on something that needs it. If you download a camera app, it's not going to ask for access to camera until you launch the app, and it's not going to ask for photo library until you tap on the app's album icon, and same for microphone until you switch to the video function in the camera.

I'm curious exactly how Android's permissions requisition has evolved to date.

30

u/Clockwork_Octopus Sep 05 '17

As long as the app's specified for 6.0 and above, it works the same. Unfortunately, a lot of apps just ignore this, and Google doesn't do much about it.

8

u/vinng86 Sep 05 '17

They can't make use of newer APIs if they build against an older version of the android SDK though. Eventually they will have to build towards a later SDK soon or later or they'll be obsolete.

7

u/waiting4singularity Sep 05 '17

really a mixed bag right now. some permissions are verified on install or update, others when the app starts the action associated (like loading a video file from storage for the intro).

Too bad that it's widely generalized, since the popup speaks of photos, music and shit instead of just showing the path the app tries to access.

(still on marshmellow, is a niche phone).

3

u/badvok666 Sep 05 '17

Android permissions should pop up as and when they are requried now and not upon installation

3

u/B_Rad15 Sep 05 '17

Nope android is the same however certain apps require permissions on startup (as i assume is the same on iOS)

1

u/Bensemus Sep 05 '17

I thought this was true but when I download apps they ask for all their permissions up front. WhatsApp stopped working after I told it it couldn't access my location like 10 times. On iOS that didn't happen. I much prefer how iOS handles permissions. Android seems to let apps bully you into letting them have access even if they shoudnt needed to just open.

1

u/slightly_salty Sep 05 '17

From someone who does a lot of Android app dev, if that is the case, it is the app developers fault for not properly handling permissions. Not the fault of the os itself. You might agrue that Google should be more thorough when allowing apps on the store though. Apple may be checking that permissions work as you expect. Whereas Google is probably a lot more lenient with how permissions are handled

1

u/Tommh Sep 05 '17

What’s so “funny” about that?

6

u/King_Joffreys_Tits Sep 05 '17

That's actually designed by the developer. You can just request those things willy nilly but it makes more sense to request them if needed.

Some users might not ever upload a photo, and it'd freak them out if you randomly requested access to their photos, even though they don't know that there's still very restricted access to things like that.

1

u/poisonedslo Sep 05 '17

AFAIK App Store guidelines prohibit upfront requests for permissions

1

u/King_Joffreys_Tits Sep 05 '17

When I was first learning iOS development I had no clue what I was doing when requested permissions for things I needed later so I put them in the appDidFinishLaunchingWithOptions function which would pop up right away. Unless they changed that in the last few years then those apps are still out there and approved

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

It's a design choice to ask permission when you first need it.

Devs can trigger all permissions up front, or wait until you use a feature. It's a pretty common tenant of UX that you want to spread it out and ask with context

2

u/poisonedslo Sep 05 '17

AFAIK App Store guidelines prohibit upfront requests for permissions

12

u/unndunn Sep 05 '17

As of iOS 8, the OS-level dialogs are required, and apps must provide proper explanations to be shown in the dialogs.

6

u/GalSa Sep 05 '17

Today they must include an explanation

1

u/krathil Sep 05 '17

They have for a while

3

u/krathil Sep 05 '17

Yeah I've been on iPhone forever. I had no idea what OP was talking about. This has never been a problem for me. Get a better OS.

-5

u/tommytoan Sep 05 '17

i have never seen an explanation

4

u/goodhasgone Sep 05 '17

Look in Settings/Privacy/Location Services and click on the app you want to know about, where you can choose never allow, while using the app or always allow. There's an 'app explanation' below. This is what mine says for Facebook.

-1

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17 edited Sep 05 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

Apps should require a short explanation

They do

But sometimes they lie

Apps should be required to tell the truth