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I've seen a lot of apps that have media / files permission access requested when installing from Play Store. Does that mean they can go at my personal photos and send it back to themselves?

Sorry if it's a bit paranoid but I don't like people stealing my photos.

The dude
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Yes, this is the "Access external storage" permission which gives apps access to access your internal and/or external /sdcard space. Your photos are typical stored under /sdcard/DCIM/ or /sdcard/Photos/, etc.

As explained here:

Photos/Media/Files

The Modifying or deleting the contents of your USB storage permission allows data tomfoolery, like uploading private camera images to a server.

It’s a legitimate permission for data sharing. A cloud storage app like Dropbox uses it, for example. But an app that doesn't need your photos could look at all the pictures you've taken on your device and do who knows what with them. Are you comfortable with the developer seeing all your photos?

Community
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Matthew Read
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  • So why don't they put a permissions to only write to the photos but not to take my photos? that's useless that every other app I install can go at my photos and send themselves. I'm probably giving up rights too, can't be bothered rreading the T&C – The dude Mar 26 '16 at 22:04
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    @Thedude up to you to decide, but there might be valid reasons: you might want to send them as attachments with a mail, or along a tweet. Or you want to edit them, or include them in some document. Or use them as background image. As with all permissions, you must decide if you want (to install/use) an app with these permissions, if they make sense in the context, if you trust the dev of that app (and of the ad modules it might contain) that much. – Izzy Mar 27 '16 at 00:11
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Absolutely yes. Whenever we give permissions of any smartphone resource like gallery, photos, media, camera, contacts or messages, it means that we are providing a complete access rights to the app to modify and copy all the stuff. But the good news is that new android updates allows us to disable these permissions later on by going to our Settings and Apps. I hope this might help you in disabling the app permissions

How to disable App Permissions on Android 6.0 and above

Courtesy:

Youtube Video Title: Easily Manage App Permissions on Android 6.0 and above Channel: Ricardo Gardener

michaeljohn22334
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