this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2023
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Technology

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[–] cnqr 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Does anyone know which of the permissions are actually enforced to be able to use the app?

It is asking for everything, but you need to give explicit permission for most of those.

Can’t you just decline and still use the app, essentially giving the same data as any other social media app?

[–] realitista@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I think... who cares...

[–] 0x815@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I personally think that what you allow or disallow in your app settings has nothing to do with what they do on their server. They collect the data anyway. But this just my opinion.

[–] cnqr 1 points 1 year ago

Sorry, but you are wrong. They will still collect all they can collect, but when you reject a permission the OS literally blocks the API access from the app.

For example, a common evil behavior for apps like this is to do passive listening through your device’s microphones so that they can target you for ads based on your day-to-day conversations. However, if you reject microphone access, the app will not be able to do this. The OS will literally block it from accessing the APIs for the microphone.

iOS has done this for quite some time. I assume Android is recently doing something similar, although not up to par.

[–] Dee_Imaginarium 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Can’t you just decline and still use the app

Most apps I've used won't let you use them without accepting those terms. I assume Threads is the same way.

[–] cnqr 2 points 1 year ago

Instagram is ok with rejecting many permissions.

I highly highly doubt Threads would do it differently.

Note that you may be confusing T&C with device-level permissions. The latter is handled by iOS (or Android where it has support). The OS will literally block APIs from the app if you reject.

An app can choose to not function without the permissions, but I’ve only seen that from obscure Chinese apps.