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Comment by jasonmarks_ | Hacker News Reader

As an app developer I do not like this idea. You want to break the contract on what that permission is intended to be.

("Weather the Trip" road trip weather app for the U.S.)

As another app developer, I don't care. You aren't meant to request permissions you don't legitimately need for the app to function. Everyone understands that a map or weather app needs access to precise location, or that an app that takes pictures needs access to the camera. But games requesting storage or location or microphone or contacts, and refusing to run without these permissions? They should rightfully get what they deserve.

Heck, even the internet access (android.permission.INTERNET) should be a runtime permission. A fakeable one, too.

GrapheneOS, at least, does make Internet access a permission you can turn off. It even goes one step further in that you can turn it off at install time. This is something that should be in stock Android.

For devices which don't have GrapheneOS installed but can be rooted, a firewall like AFWall+ is an option. It's not entirely as secure as just not granting the permission in the first place (I know of at least one way to bypass AFWall+, if an app is prepared for it), but it's still a good option.

> Heck, even the internet access (android.permission.INTERNET) should be a runtime permission. A fakeable one, too.

That would be something for sure

As an app user, I want you as an app developer to have no control whatsoever over how I use your app and no way whatsoever to know if any data it gets from my device is real.

For Android versions 8-12 there's XPrivacyLua, which will override the system APIs to feed apps fake data if you wish to do so. It requires a rooted device, obviously, but its predecessor worked like a dream last time I've tried it.

These days I'm more of a "one star review and uninstall" kind of user but I've had good experiences with XPrivacy.

Sadly, XPrivacyLua has been discontinued. I don't know any alternative for modern Android releases.

Great :thumbs up: it does that

If users see value from your product after providing real data, they won’t provide fake data. There’s no reason for certain apps to request for permissions to data that in turn provide no value to the product.

I'm going to write a free/no-ad version of this app solely out of spite for this kind of viewpoint.

Be on the lookout for my app, "Weather Trip Report" app in a few weeks.

anonymously? where is your honor?

I think I'll win more share of the U.S. market wink nudge nudge

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