app security

[Zenze]

So I had a question about the security of apps on the market. I read the sticky about it which was very helpful but have a question about a particular app. In my hunt for a good alarm clock app I found "alarm clock plus" which I downloaded and think its a great app but I'm kind of worried about some of the permissions it uses. They are:

Your Location, coarse (network based) location
Network communication, full internet access
Phone calls, read phone state and identity
System tools, modify global system settings, prevent phone from sleeping

Is there anything here that seems sketchy? I thought it might need location for some sort of weather functionality, but it doesnt have anything like that. And I dont know why it would need full internet access either.

Maybe I am being to paranoid about the whole app security thing, what do you guys think?

 

[Good Old Bakes]

+1

It's a question I've been meaning to ask for a while. I'm sure there's good reason for it but if anyone knows why even the most mundane of apps need to access my texts, phonebook, email etc, I'd love to know.

 

[nightfishing]

I would ask the question to the dev

Alarm Clock Plus - Android app on AppBrain

(he has replied to comments, also, that might be a better way to ask - will help others)

 

[Bushflyr]

Location could be so the clock can auto update for different time zones.

Net access- IDK

Phone calls - maybe so it doesn't fire off the alarm clock in the middle of a call.

And prevent phone from sleeping is pretty self explanatory.

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Zenze]

So I asked the dev about it and long story short he said that it is a requirement of the ads that are in the app. Also many apps use this same advertisement SDK which need certain permissions which can be viewed here in step 3 of the SDK integration: Android - Admob For Developers.

So that would really explain why there are so many seemingly legit and non malicious apps that require permissions that you would not expect.

 

[KlaymenDK]

Yeah,
Location and Net access is getting ever more common, precisely because of adverts. I guess it's the price to pay for free apps, right?

Phone calls - you certainly don't want to be "woken up" when you have the phone already at your ear!

if anyone knows why even the most mundane of apps need to access my texts, phonebook, email etc, I'd love to know.

That's different from the original poster's question - that would be listed as "access to your personal info" or something like that, and should certainly be taken seriously, especially if that app also requests net access for no apparent reason. However, due to the ads, that's hard to know for sure.