Android wants nearly all the permissions for camera use

8 days ago by la93 to c/android

Wondering what people are thinking about this and why the internet is so quiet about it. I am not happy. Today it decided I couldn't use the camera without giving it extensive permissions and agreeing to it. Not cool. Update: Open Camera worked and I hope Google doesn't block this and other apps in September as they are threatening. Almost slipped into agenda posting. You all have the internet too.

SGG 28 points 8 days ago

I looked at the permissions the camera app has on my phone. While yes it has a few they don't seem unreasonable to me.

Camera, microphone, photos and video are the absolute bare minimum to be able to capture pictures and video and be able to save them locally.

Notifications while not critical makes sense so it can show a recording notification.

Location once again seems common sense to me because lots of people want their photos geotagged. I believe this is also why nearby devices is required.

I was able to disable location and nearby devices and the app still works, which I think is acceptable.

I'd be curious to see what permissions your camera app has/had/requested to see if it was after more suspicious access.

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SqueakyBeaver 3 points 7 days ago

I believe the nearby devices permission could also be for stuff like remote microphones and those remotes that take the picture when you press a button

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snausagesinablanket 22 points 8 days ago

I use Open Camera. I disabled native camera. Pixel 9pro

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over_clox 6 points 8 days ago

^ This, 1000%

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la93 5 points 8 days ago

Thanks, I'll try Open Camera. Crossing fingers.

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hexagonwin 6 points 8 days ago

btw be sure to enable camera2 api in opencamera settings (unless ur phone is decade+ old)

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la93 1 point 4 days ago

Mine didn't have this setting, but disabling the native app seemed to make it work.

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over_clox 1 point 8 days ago

You won't be disappointed, no need to geotag every fucking image...

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la93 6 points 8 days ago

The thing is I don't want geotag. I don't want any metadata on my pics.

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over_clox 5 points 8 days ago

Exactly. Open Camera doesn't need any more permissions than storage and camera, no location services necessary nor required.

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prenatal_confusion 1 point 8 days ago

I always feel like there is some secret sauce in the google camera app that makes the images look so much better ... So i went back

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snausagesinablanket 2 points 8 days ago

Sometimes you have to uninstall open camera and then reinstall it. It will recalibrate and start being sharp again. Its free and you can have the light on as you like which is great for macros.

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brachypelmide 1 point 8 days ago

proprietary camera apps almost always come with proprietary post process algorithms that open source apps dont have access to, hence the better photo quality

photoncamera on fdroid has its own post process algorithms that are quite decent but the app itself is a bit janky and seems abandoned

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unitedwithme 9 points 8 days ago

Just a FOSS cam app so you know permissions are limited or eliminated.

https://f-droid.org/...

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Carighan 4 points 8 days ago

I mean this one - hopefully - still wants Location, Camera, Microphone and Files, right? Otherwise it'd be pretty limited as a camera. Granted I suspect it only wants Location if I turn on EXIF location as per its description, but the other three would be the bare minimum to work I imagine.

(edit)
Just checked it out, and yeah as expected it of course needs Camera, Microphone and Files. It doesn't seem to ask for Location even if EXIF is enabled, which maps as it seems to be unable to even record location-of-picture even if desired.

So same permissions as both my Google Cam port and the pre-installed Fairphone camera app, yeah.

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unitedwithme 2 points 8 days ago

Yeah that's going to be the minimum I suspect. Camera for pictures, mic for video, storage for saving those captures and recordings. The actual Google camera app I think requested contacts, read contents in storage, a whole lot of stuff not needed.

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BCsven 8 points 8 days ago

Time for a GrapheneOS phone. The camera app is not the default Google Camera App.

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lka1988 6 points 8 days ago

What?

This isn't iOS. You don't need to change the whole operating system to use a different camera app. Just install Open Camera and disable the built-in app.

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BCsven 5 points 8 days ago

Sandboxed apps on GraphenesOS so if you do decide to use the Google Camera app to access the more advance features then you can still do it without giving google everything.

I.e. motoG had an erase motion AI function, as well as other AR tools but only if you used the Google Camera app, other camera apps wouldn't leverage it

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superglue 4 points 8 days ago

I think they are getting at is you can still use the Google camera app on Graphene with Network Permissions denied. Open Camera is a great app but I found the pictures came out way worse. I hate Google as much as the next guy here but their camera app is superior.

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la93 3 points 8 days ago

I could barely afford my bargain basement phone. No pixel or graphene for me, but I'm glad people are able to make better choices. I'm sure it helps the situation for everyone.

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Onomatopoeia 6 points 8 days ago

I pay far less for my used Pixels than a new phone - I refuse to buy new when a 2 year old phone is $150

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la93 5 points 8 days ago

Nice! I couldn't exactly plan ahead. One day I had a phone, the next I had a completely dead phone and no way to get into critical accounts. Some days.

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DataCrime 2 points 8 days ago

Totally forgot about this until now… (thanks) but I remember having to tape a tiny wire to the charging pad on one of my first android phones and then squeezing the (dead) battery pack in on top, because the cursed thing would not initiate charging unless it could read the eprom in the battery pack.

Google and some other authentication providers use to let you generate offline authentication codes. I’m not sure if this is still a thing, but it definitely saved my ass a few times.

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lemmysmash 2 points 8 days ago

Even if you can't have a GrapheneOS-powered phone, you still can have GrapheneOS camera: https://play.google.com/...

It isn't as feature-rich as OpenCamera or even native camera, but it does the job and it doesn't spy on you.

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BCsven 1 point 8 days ago

What's a Pixel go for where you are? And what Phone do you currently have?

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lka1988 2 points 8 days ago

What?

This isn't iOS. You don't need to change the whole operating system to use a different camera app. Just install Open Camera and disable the built-in app.

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Carighan 8 points 8 days ago

WDYM?

My camera app (Fairphone) asked me for:

Location. Makes sense, I set it to record where each picture was taken, can hardly do that if it doesn't know the location.
Microphone. Yeah, I wanna record sound in my videos.
Camera. Duh.
Files permission. I like my pictures and videos to be actually saved, so this makes sense.

What permissions in addition to these pretty obvious ones does yours want?

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wreckedcarzz 7 points 8 days ago

What phone are you using? There are thousands of camera apps. If it's the stock camera for your system, just uninstall/disable it and try another.

Sounds shady but without knowing more details, it's just speculation.

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brucethemoose 6 points 8 days ago

Get a mirrorless camera! One small enough to carry around.

They can transfer photos to your phone wirelessly, these days.

…Or, as a lesser extreme, a third party camera app.

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Visstix 2 points 8 days ago

Even easier is a usb-c card reader so you can plug it in your phone directly. I find the camera connecting apps a bit finicky. (Also "these days" made me chuckle since it's been a thing for like 14 years now)

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la93 1 point 8 days ago

Good to know, thanks!

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brucethemoose 1 point 8 days ago

Scouring the camera market has been my intense interest for the past few months, so if you actually looking for one, I might be able to point in a direction.

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la93 1 point 8 days ago

Like a real camera, not inside the phone? Or app? I suspect the phone is not allowing me to change the default camera. What do you suggest?

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brucethemoose 1 point 8 days ago

For stills, I am a bad source for Android camera app advice because I’m on iOS. But for video, I can tell you the Blackmagic app is incredible.

As for a dedicated camera, not gonna lie, they aren’t cheap. You probably want something used or older, depending on your shooting priorities. Stills or video? Indoor, or outdoor? Fast, or slow subjects? Do you want a lot of zoom, or do you tend to shoot close up? And how much would you spend for a camera you keep for many years?

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ryannathans 5 points 8 days ago

What camera app are you using?

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unknown 4 points 8 days ago

Unless I'm actively taking a picture I have all the camera permissions disabled and the lenses covered with foil stickers.

On my last phone I straight up deleted the camera app (still covered the lenses with stickers tho) and would download one whenever I had to take photos and delete it again after.

I can't remember why I stopped doing that actually, maybe the camera app I liked that had none of that tracking shit, got removed or something, idk.

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la93 2 points 4 days ago

I would do the same if the app was really bothersome. Never heard of foil stickers, but I definitely use stickers on all lenses.

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DarkCloud 2 points 8 days ago

I use a third party app, but didn't the UK recently pass something that effects the images people take/have o their phones? It's supposed to protect children.

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la93 1 point 4 days ago

Seems a global trend and it does not protect children or anyone.

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solrize 1 point 8 days ago

I remember being annoyed that the standard camera app required microphone permission and that caused me some hassle once. It obviously needs file permissions in order to save pictures. But, I don't remember it requiring network permissions or anything else especially alarming.

It shouldn't need microphone permission for taking still photos, or for shooting videos without sound. I joke that Charlie Chaplin was able to make silent movies 100 years ago, but the technology for doing that now seems to have been lost.

What other permissions does it want? What Android version? When I encountered this, it was on my old phone that ran Android 6 at the time (later Android 7).

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deadcream 6 points 8 days ago

Android doesn't have network permission. Any app can access the internet (otherwise ads wouldn't work).

Well, technically it does. But it's granted automatically and user can't even revoke it without using custom ROM.

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la93 -1 points 8 days ago

Charlie Chaplin 😊 I listed all the permissions in another response.

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Welcome to the Android community on Lemmy. Here you can participate in amazing discussions and events relating to all things Android.

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