Citation needed.
Looking through my phone the vast majority of third party apps I have installed obviously require internet access:
- Social media
- Travel (rideshare/airlines/hotels)
- Streaming
- Finance (credit cards/banks)
- Shopping
Not counting built-in apps like the calculator I'd estimate 80-90% of the apps I have installed require internet access.
I do take photos on my phone but I want them automatically backed up to the cloud so I don't lose them if my phone is stolen.
Editing text/video/music I prefer to do on my computer not my phone.
> virtually none of this requires internet beyond icloud syncing/drive.
That's a weird counterargument. "This doesn't require internet except this feature does require internet."
- Photo/Video editors - Snapsheed, Lightroom, Video trimmers etc.
- Document readers & scanners - PDF viewers, e-readers, OCR scanners
- Note taking - Obsidian
- File/Password managers - Authenticators etc.
- Single player games - Chess, puzzles etc.
- Audio/Video players - VLC players
We've just become conditioned to accept that every app needs to phone home for tracking and ad-delivery.
PDF viewers (like GoodReader) can download a PDF from a URL, or read it from a network drive.
Obsidian has functions that need internet access (e.g., connecting to the Obsidian sync servers, installing community plugins).
Password managers often have a sync feature.
A video player may be able to play files hosted on remote servers or network drives.
They should be useable without an internet connection, but it's entirely reasonable for them to request permissions for network access.