A few days ago, I reviewed USB Audio Player Pro app for android. Link to review https://gavinsgadgets.com/2015/01/08/usb-audio-player-pro-app-on-android-what-a-difference/
Reader Ziontrain made the following comments –
“One should also note that this program is likely collecting your personal information. Accirding to google play, the permissions required to install this program (“USB Audio Player Pro”) are:
“This app has access to:
– Photos / Media / Files
(Uses one or more of: files on the device such as images, videos or audio, the device’s external storage)
– Device ID & call information
(Allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active and the remote number connected by a call)”
One can understand the first permission. But the second one? Uh no – not necessary at all.”
Following Ziontrain’s comment a debate ensued. So it was decided to contact the developer and discover why the following permissions are used. And this is the reply from developer, Davy Wentzler of eXtream Software Development.
“Hi Gavin,
Thanks for the purchase and review!
We use the READ_PHONE_STATE permission so we can mute audio if you’re in the middle of a call. This is according to Android API requirements and nothing special. Top apps like Neutron, PowerAmp, Pandora, Spotify, etc all need the permission. Of course we don’t query your phone number, you are invited to come over to our office and inspect our code! 🙂
Kind regards,
Davy
eXtream Software Development”
So nothing sinister just Google still not really having clear enough explanations of the permissions used by various apps.
And one last point. If you use a Gmail or email people who use a Gmail account, Google probably has a 6 foot high stack paper mound of data on you already.
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