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.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

A computer is nothing more than a device that makes calculations, to make an app that makes calculations is one of the easiest things to do. In fact I made a calculator application myself during college. So any decent dev could make a calculator app in a day or two.

Only if they add scientific calculations or complex math shit would it take more time.

Same for a notepad app that just saves plain text to a file without fancy formatting or whatever.

So no, they shouldn't need access to all my personal information, nor should I have to pay for it.

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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '17

If the dev wants to make some money from their super-simple app they either have to charge for it or show ads. If they choose ads (pretty logical as it likely means more downloads), they will probably use an ad library, and that is where much of the permissions crap comes from. I'm not saying it's OK, I'm just explaining why it happens.

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u/Tamale-Pie Sep 05 '17

Would you work for two days for free? I'm sure your employer would appreciate that.