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Comment by dheera | Hacker News Reader

Yep, this is the main reason I use Android. It also means I can modify things on the OS level to e.g. fabricate false GPS data and supply it to apps that insist on GPS access to be functional.

On iPhones and stock Android phones, apps "know" when you deny permissions, and can even know when you use the mock GPS feature.

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Out of curiosity, are you referring to rooted Android, or some variant that provides the user some protection from apps "knowing"? GrapheneOS seems to provide some of this (Storage Scopes, network permission, etc.) but not all.

Custom mod of LineageOS, not rooted stock Android, although you might be able to accomplish it with rooted stock and some frameworks like Xposed, they can be detected by some apps, and some apps actually do detect those frameworks and ban users. WeChat is particularly notorious for this kind of detection. If you get banned you not only are disconnected from communicating with your family and friends, you can't even book train and flight tickets, you can't buy food at many places that only take mobile payments and don't take cash, just for a stupid framework. So it has to be done on the OS level.

I was thinking about getting an xperia, I asked about rooting/custom rom and apparetly unlocking the bootloader will delete keys that the camera needs to run. Seeing as it's designed as a cameraphone first and foremost, that's a bit of a major feature to lose.

Why, as a user, is that story (even without losing the camera) would any of that sound better than just having the app store require that apps follow some approval guidelines about what they are allowed to do with privileges and what they are allowed to do when denied privileges?

Unfortunately, you can't really have sideloading and an app review process. If sideloading is trivial/normalized for users then it'll be trivial/normalized for bad actors wanting to exploit those users.

According to the App Store rules for iOS, An app can’t withhold functionality when you deny it GPS access unless it’s required for the app’s functionality.

Why would I use an app that requires unnecessary permissions?

The SSH client Prompt uses GPS permissions as a round-about workaround to ensure your SSH connection is not reaped and closed by iOS while in the background.

The easier less privacy invasive and less battery draining alternative is to play silence in the background .

Why would you use an app that insists on having gps access?

To stay in touch with friends and family who only use a certain app for communication and social event planning. I don't have the energy to convince them and an entire country to move off said app.

To get permits to certain wilderness areas that require GPS permissions to even apply.

To get on restaurant waitlists before arriving. (Some restaurants insist on your phone-reported GPS location being within a certain radius to get on the list. Welcome to Silicon Valley in 2023)

Lots of reasons.

I dunno, I find GPS in my maps app to be pretty useful.

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