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Comment by allegory | Hacker News Reader

This.

I was going to install a torch app and it wanted access to my contacts and call history?!?!

Took a while but I found one that just needed camera access (to activate the LED). Not all apps are completely evil but the majority appear to be.

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I got so tired of testing all the flashlight apps. Some had ads, other required too many permissions. In the end I wrote my own, in a couple of hours. It's ad free, and doesn't require anything:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.l...

I salute you. Have installed it and it works perfectly. I will recommend this to anyone who needs such a thing.

Thank you for your efforts.

That is what I am talking about. I downloaded a silly entertainment app. It has no need to my browser history, my geolocation and all the apps I have installed on my phone. But it still requires those permission to show me ads.

Yeah. It would be really nice if stock android included the permissions editor thingy, where you can revoke permissions that applications claim to require. I know dumb users will use it to break stuff, but tuck it behind a secret code and four warning screens or something.

What about this?

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.infolife....

AFAIK Android did ship with something like that recently but they killed it, not that I saw it personally. I reckon they killed it due to people shooting permissions randomly.

What I want to see is a trust rating for an app when I install it which analyses the required permissions, the company's reputation and the privacy implications.

Thanks for the link. I was under the impression that functionality required root. Unfortunately, the Play store says that app isn't compatible with my device. Perhaps it's because I'm using Android 4.4, while that app's description mentions 4.3.

If anyone else is looking for a flashlight app, the two in the F-Droid market only require the exact permission they need to function.

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=flashlight&f...

Care to share which App you found for the flash light, by chance looking for one too :)

'Nexus Torch'. It says nexus but it works fine on my Moto G after an initial warning on first start up:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.cactii.fla...

Thanks!

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