I have some conflict of interest in helping an app that, if it becomes popular, means lower sales and higher tech support costs for other innocent apps. Your business model requires you to build trust for your app by encouraging mistrust of other apps.
But I will do my best to put you in the mind of an end user. And even though I am being harsh, my ideas can help you. An end user: "There is this app called Apprivacy. Since it has full internet access, it *MUST* be posting all that information about what I have installed publicly on the internet. I see no reason for it to slow down my boot process. I think I will post these concerns as comments on the Android Market and demand an explanation, even though I don't plan to listen for one." And if you monetize this app, be prepared for new permissions that no one will like because the ad network requires them. On Saturday, June 2, 2012 10:32:11 AM UTC-7, omoling wrote: > > I would like to integrate answers from publishers, given them the > possibility to reply to such 'questions'. > That part makes sense. Maybe you aren't anti-developer after all. I like that you are planning that. But do understand, that in some ways you are blackmailing us to do that, because our apps are likely to show "danger level 3" or something until we do that. On the plus side, that gives some advantages to small developers since the big ones, like FaceBook, aren't likely to respond. > I would like the app to filter out, by the low of large numbers, > not-really-needed permissions, > Ok, but an end user's expression of doubt is extremely poor gauge of whether the app really needs the permissions. They don't think that FaceBook needs Internet access, if that tells you anything. The people complaining about the Facebook app probably post their cell phone number on it voluntarily. As is, I think that apps that are installed more often will have more doubts. No correlation at all with how bad they need the permission. And defining danger level by the sheer number of permissions is also inaccurate. Apps with more functionality are more likely to need more permissions in many but not all cases. > as some SMS managing app requiring access to log files > Says who? So apps are not allowed to be concerned about diagnosing problems for their users, letting them send this log to get problems fixed? That is what log files are actually used for by most developers. Unlike what the Market and your app implies, that they are used to record personal information and sell it to the highest bidder. > and running applications or games requiring permission to send SMS > messages. > Until the users bug them about being able to send scores and achievements over sms without leaving the app. You do know, right, that if 5% of your users want to use an SMS feature, or any feature, that you can't just ask for permission from just that 5%? Well, end users don't. So 95% of the people are going to express doubt about that permission. The other point is that I don't believe users give enough attention at the > permissions screen on install. > True, but many of us developers like those users. Those users actually install apps, evaluate them on their true merits, and therefore may provide revenue for us. Now you are giving them a chance to interact with those at the other extreme, who will always find something to complain about an app. Now they will post a Market Comment saying "Boy, now I really regret installing this app, after my privacy analyzer told me what it is doing. And I found out that lots of other people are concerned as well." It doesn't matter what explanation you post, this comment will bring down your sales, because no one reads your description and everyone reads the comment. When it comes to permissions, apps are guilty until ... no, there is no until, they are just guilty. If an app has permissions, it means one of these things: 1. It is using it for a benign purpose. 2. It is not using it all and the developers are incompetent and don't know that. 3. It is not using it yet and the developers are reserving that right, wisely, because *changing permissions* is a sin that receive no forgiveness from the Market in this life or the life to come. 4. It is using it for a nefarious purpose. Realize that users of your app are the ones predisposed to think number 4, so anything you do to educate them will help. If you do want to be helpful without waging war on developers, here are some things that end users don't know about permissions: 1. Permissions that are universally despised and described in a scary way by the Market may actually have good uses. - Example: READ_LOG. You seem convinced it is evil. Well, good apps use it to diagnose problems with voluntary crash reports. 2. Permissions are sometimes a packaged deal. Very few apps actually want to monitor your phone calls. But READ_PHONE_STATE is necessary to retrieve a unique identifier. There is no permission called RETRIEVE_UNIQUE_IDENTIFIER_BUT_ONLY_FOR_THOSE_DEVICES_WHERE_ANDROID_ID_IS_UNRELIABLE. 3. There is no way to ask for permissions on demand. Permission X may only be used by those using feature Y or who have enabled setting Z. 4. Could doesn't mean will. Because an app has contacts permission and internet access does *not* mean that they will post all your contacts to the internet. 5. Preinstalled apps, which you don't seem to monitor, have much greater and scarier permissions than anything you have voluntarily installed. 6. Any application you have ever installed on Windows probably has greater permissions than any app you've ever installed on your phone. Yet - you've probably installed tons of them. You could try explaining some of these things even when a developer has not responded yet. And then give the developer some check boxes to say which things apply to them. Your app can do some good if it can educate users and bring balance to the permissions question. If it does not, I hope (selfishly) that it never becomes popular. Nathan -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/android-discuss/-/QIuFcMuVdMcJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en.
