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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.

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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.

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