Help APP PERMISSION

[silversleeper]

Hello everyone,

Can some please help me understand/tell me why some of the apps that I have download require me to
ALLOW "SOME APPS" TO MAKE AND MANAGE PHONE CALLS

This requirement makes no sense to me and was hoping someone here can help me make sense of exactly why this is a requirement.

Also since I have downloaded some apps and click on the (allow tab) I get random calls from all around the United States. When I answer them it hangs up right away and sometimes it will ring like 3 times and hang up or when I answer it there is no one on the line and I then just hang up the phone. I have attached a picture/screen grab of the permission tab I am asking about.

Tim

 

[Hadron]

What other apps have this?

I can't find any sign that OpenSignal should have this permission. And I installed it myself and scanned it and still didn't find that permission, unless your OS version calls it something different. But even then on my device it only seemed to have permissions to read logs. Don't want to jump to conclusions or encourage paranoid, as it may be an OS difference, but where did you install it from?

It's also possible that your junk calls are a coincidence, or because your number has leaked to spammers via some other route. But it's also possible that one of your apps has leaked your phone number, not necessarily one with this permission (the ability to read the phone number and internet permissions would suffice for that).

 

[silversleeper]

Hello Hadron, thanks for your quick reply
I downloaded it the other day from google play
my phone is the samsung Galaxy S7 Edge,
please note I have attached a screen grab of the app asking for the permission for the request I am asking about..
Thanks,

Tim

 

[Hadron]

OK, I think I've found the answer. You get that message if any "dangerous" permission in the "Phone" permissions group is requested. "Dangerous" includes CALL_PHONE or MANAGE_OUTGOING_CALLS, but also things like READ_PHONE_STATE (which many apps need so that they can stop when a call comes in).

The warning is phrased to cover the most significant permissions in this group. You can see the sense if you know that once you've granted one of these Phone permissions it won't ask you again if the app wants a second one, so it's warning you of the worst case in advance. What you might argue about is why it doesn't ask again if a different permission is asked for, or why it doesn't tell you which permission is actually being requested, but asking Google is pretty much a waste of time.

So I think that's the answer: the app does have some permissions in that group (e.g. READ_PHONE_STATE) but not the permissions to actually make or manage calls. So the message is misleading and a lot scarier than it needs to be - thanks Google!

 

[lunatic59]

@Hadron as always, is on top of the issue.

If you go into settings>apps>permissions>show all you can see the specific things this app has permission to do.

And, if you read the little disclaimer at installation (Yeah, I know, who reads all that stuff? ) You would see why it wants those permissions.