Since apps hit the market they have seriously shook up the industry. The concept of apps seems to be something we as consumers are very much interested in. This is good news for everyone as there seems to be a lot of money floating around apps these days. Not only have apps made a lot of money (take a look at Kim Kardashian’s app) but the company only sell their apps for a lot of money (remember Facebook buying WhatsApp). All that said, apps do sometimes come with a rather ominous problem. The infamous ‘permissions’.
Apps have become notorious for their reliance on permissions to function. Some of these permissions are obvious and make sense when you think about the purpose of the app. However, quite often, people are fearful of certain apps as they seem to require permissions that are less obviously needed. Torch apps have become quite infamous in the past for relying on numerous permissions to function. As a result, a number of users are always hesitant on installing such apps. To highlight the variety of permissions which apps request access to, Vocativ put together a list of ‘common permissions’. These are best thought of in terms of what permissions, companies believe they need to access. As Vocativ states “it’s a barometer of what app makers think they can get away with”.
The list highlights the 25 most popular android apps available from the Play Store and Vocativ noted that these apps can typically seek up to 60 permissions each. That said, for the purpose of the list and its comparisons, Vocativ decided to focus on the what they felt was the top four ominous permissions. These consisted of access to contacts, access to text messages, access to the microphone and access to call logs. As you can see from the image above, the apps which topped the lists consisted of AntiVirus Security, Viber and Facebook. Although the image only focuses on the four main permissions, it is worth noting Vocativ did analyze all the permissions these apps use and this is listed in the second column of the list. So AntiVirus was rated top as it used 44 permissions while Viber was only slightly behind with 42 permissions. Facebook was also not that far further behind with 39 permissions. If you want to read the findings in more detail then click the source link below. How do you feel about permissions? Which ones do you dislike being accessed the most? Let us know.