Greg's Corner

Be careful what permissions your apps want on your phone

I’m sure when most of us download the latest fad app to our smart phones we just bypass the permissions screen and grant the app whatever permissions it might need to work properly. A new app is now causing concern for asking for too much permission.

Meitu is an app that can take a photo of you, or anything else you want, and allows you to change the subject into an Anime inspired character. The problem is that Meitu is supposedly asking for way more permission than it needs. If you download the app from the Google Play store it will ask for such permissions as your location and your phone number. On the iPhone it also checks to see who your mobile carrier is.

So why would a harmless app ask for such detailed information? According to CNET it’s so that the app’s creators can sell your information to advertisers. Meitu isn’t the only culprit here though. Many apps ask for almost total access to your phone in order to harvest your information to be sold to the highest bidder which can lead to even more obtrusive advertising than mobile devices already have to contend with.

So the next time that screen pops up asking for your permission, maybe we should all check to make sure what permissions the app is asking for and if it’s too many maybe forego that app.