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I don't own an iPhone or an Android (yet), so I was wondering: is there any way for the user to control permissions the app will have to access the hardware?

Say, for example, that I like an app because it does several cool things and only one not-so-cool thing that involves using the mic to "snoop" on me. Would I be able to download the app and then set up the permissions so it doesn't have access to the mic?

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I can only speak for Android, but no you cannot deny the application access to certain aspects of the hardware. You must instead refuse to use the application as a whole.

On the plus side, Android is very clear about what parts of your phone the application is requesting access to when you install it.

On the iPhone side of things, you need to provide permission for an app to use GPS data. Mic, camera, compass, gps, and gyro are all fair game. No implementable restrictions either.

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