What exactly are the dangerous permissions we are talking about?
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 10:37 am
Too many dangerous permissions
It seems like a photo app only needs two dangerous permissions to work: CAMERA (for taking photos) and WRITE_STORAGE (for saving edited images). However, the study found that these apps request an average of 5 dangerous permissions, with one app requesting as many as 7.
app wants to scan the contact list.
13 apps want to access your location via GPS.
10 apps want to access your approximate location (via cell towers and Wi-Fi networks).
23 apps want access to your microphone.
30 apps want to be able to write files to your device.
29 apps want access to your camera.
29 apps want to be able to read files on your device.
But then a very important question arises: why would a senegal number data photo editor that only enhances images record audio, track GPS location, or view your contact list?
Why does this program need your data?
The answer is pretty obvious and banal: money. App developers can make a lot of money by selling the collected personal data to advertisers . Location-sharing agreements between software developers and app brokers – and apps can send your GPS coordinates up to 14,000 times a day – generate a lot of revenue. For collecting data from 1,000 users, app developers can earn up to $4 per month. If they have 1 million active users, they can earn up to $4,000 per month, and that’s just from one broker. If they work with two brokers and have at least 10 million monthly active users, they can earn up to $80,000 per month. With more dangerous permissions granted to them by the user, they have access to more sensitive data, which means they can earn more money.
And that's why these apps are free. Cheap apps, of course, take the easy way out and simply bombard the user with non-stop full-screen ads that will force them to uninstall the software sooner or later.
Result
In general, if we analyze this story with photo editors in detail, we can draw the following conclusion: these are not very useful and quite suspicious programs. Therefore, we recommend that you be careful when deciding whether to download these applications.
It seems like a photo app only needs two dangerous permissions to work: CAMERA (for taking photos) and WRITE_STORAGE (for saving edited images). However, the study found that these apps request an average of 5 dangerous permissions, with one app requesting as many as 7.
app wants to scan the contact list.
13 apps want to access your location via GPS.
10 apps want to access your approximate location (via cell towers and Wi-Fi networks).
23 apps want access to your microphone.
30 apps want to be able to write files to your device.
29 apps want access to your camera.
29 apps want to be able to read files on your device.
But then a very important question arises: why would a senegal number data photo editor that only enhances images record audio, track GPS location, or view your contact list?
Why does this program need your data?
The answer is pretty obvious and banal: money. App developers can make a lot of money by selling the collected personal data to advertisers . Location-sharing agreements between software developers and app brokers – and apps can send your GPS coordinates up to 14,000 times a day – generate a lot of revenue. For collecting data from 1,000 users, app developers can earn up to $4 per month. If they have 1 million active users, they can earn up to $4,000 per month, and that’s just from one broker. If they work with two brokers and have at least 10 million monthly active users, they can earn up to $80,000 per month. With more dangerous permissions granted to them by the user, they have access to more sensitive data, which means they can earn more money.
And that's why these apps are free. Cheap apps, of course, take the easy way out and simply bombard the user with non-stop full-screen ads that will force them to uninstall the software sooner or later.
Result
In general, if we analyze this story with photo editors in detail, we can draw the following conclusion: these are not very useful and quite suspicious programs. Therefore, we recommend that you be careful when deciding whether to download these applications.