Do Not Agree To All Applications Permissions- Know Why

Mobile apps have changed our lives in countless ways. From ordering food to booking movies or flight tickets, checking account balance, buying clothes or communicating with others- you name it and we have an app for everything. Technology has improved our way of doing daily activities by making things easier. We can no longer imagine going back to age without these applications.

We do everything else in our application, but have you ever thought of your risks while downloading these applications. Have you ever paid attention to the permissions that you need to agree before downloading an application? Or you just click “Agreed” in a Hush.

These permissions can violate your privacy and also prevent a serious potential threat, where they can reach all your personal data and materials such as photos, contacts, chats, notes, storage etc.

Although there are more than 300 million mobiles in India, internet users, app-based security and lack of awareness of privacy issues are a matter of concern. Indians download many apps every week that inadvertently provide various permissions to companies. According to experts, while such behavior can be understood, however, such ignorance is a great threat to users.

In one of the reports, the communication apps were managed the worst, on average, demanding 14.5 dangerous permissions, followed by finance apps which include mobile wallets, also demands 12.5 dangerous permissions. Even shopping apps seek 10.8 dangerous permissions that are risky for the user. In the same report, “While the type of top dangerous permissions used in India and in the US remain the same, the percentage of apps reaching these apps vary greatly,” saying that Indian apps are 3.5 times higher than the US apps. This clearly indicates to what extent immigrant permission is taken by the Indian app.

For example, if you have downloaded Flipkart on your phone, it has some non-core permissions such as your device and app history, flashlight and access to the camera. If you have hail, it has access to your contacts, storage and media files. Such apps know the details of your exact places, your home number, your email accounts, restaurants and movie halls that you often come and see more things. Have you really signed up for this. Okay, yes, when you click on the “Agree” button.

While accepting the terms and conditions, you should be active and do not agree with you blindly. When you allow these mobile applications to access more data on your phone, which you basically need to highlight your personal information for safety risks. Hackers can avail the poor written code of these applications to get access to the user’s phone or data.

The dangers arising due to lack of awareness are countless. For example

1. Danger of privacy:

A shopping app can reach your camera and the appropriate answer for such permission will be based on the fact that many of these apps allow you to find items through pictures or through barcode scanning. However, many such apps unnecessarily seek permission that have no relevance for their function. For example, app flashlogs such as camera flash or your phone are seen as mirrors, it has basic functions- the phone’s LED as a flash or to turn on your front camera. It is absolutely unnecessary for such apps to have access to your messages, contacts or personal data.

2. Data / Battery Danger:

Various applications continue to run in the background, resulting in continuous data. Shopping apps keep pushing their offers which include an image, a status bar and message. These ‘push notifications’ use a lot of internet data as well as phone batteries for such downloads and updates.

Every user should inadvertently do some things before allowing apps

1. Always take a proper look at the policy before accepting it. We all agree to click on agreeing at the end of disconnection, however, you should always make appropriate efforts once before agreeing to the rules and conditions to avoid giving unnecessary access to those apps, which can cause your privacy to violate your privacy.

2. Do not install unknown or suspicious apps. Also, avoid downloading apps from unknown sources. You should only download the app from Play Store (Android users) and app store (iPhone users).

3. Some precautionary changes can be activated to protect your privacy. For example, browsing in secret mode, or neutralizing your location, or preventing access to contact list, etc.

However, some apps require such access. For example, the taxi service app will become meaningless without providing them access to the location.

4. You should seriously examine the permissions asked for an app. If you get permissions that seem unusual, such as for permission that has no connection with its function- then avoid it, especially for your contacts, phones, camera, location.

5. It is always better to see its rating before downloading any app. If it is less than 2 -2.5 on the scale of 5, it would always be appropriate to avoid downloading such apps. You can also go through apps reviews so that you have a better understanding about the app and it is not a fake app that can spoil your phone.

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