This feature is nowadays called Privacy Guard and it works so well that I have it on by default for all apps. With the exception of apps that actually need to read my contacts (say WhatsApp), I have not had to disable it for any applications and haven't seen any complications. For example Facebook and Twitter apps, which require a whole rainbow of permissions, function just the way they used to. I've never made a lot of use of their location dependent features though and would expect those to suffer from being deprived of GPS data.

I haven't got round to rooting my droid yet, but my plan is to always tell facebook/twitter/google+ that my current position is directly under the moon/iss/some other satilite. Or maybe I'll trace out "Hello FB" on the Atlantic ocean.

That so needs to be a thing.

Though I don't think I'd be tracing out "Hello". Unless you speak Bronx.

This sounds excellent, I can't believe I never tried it yet! Of course, this should be part of core Android, but I guess there is no hope for that (given that Google makes its dough on advertising).

It used to be, called App Ops. It was in for (one?) point release before google promptly withdrew it again after realising that giving people tools to protect their privacy goes against their mission.

According to Google [1], it was never meant to ship at that point as it was not ready for general public. There was some compatibility problems with many applications, so that is somewhat believable.

[1] http://www.dailytech.com/Google+Removes+App+Ops+Privacy+Cont...

Of course, they have to spin it some way, because they're years past the point they could be honest and believed. I think it's more likely one google engineer wanted to resist the constant invasion of privacy and likely ended up paying with his job.

App Ops throws SecurityExceptions when you try to access a permission, it doesn't return empty data. You can imagine that most apps didn't build exception handling into the feature access that is required in the manifest at install time. That is the primary reason why it is not a fully public feature for users.

"more likely one google engineer wanted to resist the constant invasion of privacy"

One engineer can't launch a product alone. Just isn't possible unless its under a personal name.

"and likely ended up paying with his job."

0% chance.

They didn't really withdraw it, they just hid it better. I downloaded App Ops X and it still works fine on 4.4.whatever.

App Ops X can only work with root on 4.4.x. In 4.3 it could expose the hidden options to the user without additional permissions.

Ah, I didn't know it needed root, I guess I root everything so I never noticed. Too bad.

To clarify, it doesn't need root on 4.4, it needs root on 4.4.2.

Do you have a link to the google play store? I tried to find it and couldn't. I would love to download it.

I think this is it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.colortiger...

Yep, that's the one!

Thanks!

If that we're true why don't they remove the AdBlock extension from he Chrome store? What good are targeted Ads if those Ads are blocked anyway?

This one is pretty simple, actually. They do obscure AdBlock from the store — if listed in order of popularity instead of being somewhat curated, it’d be at the top of the page. But to your point, imagine they did remove AdBlock from the store. Nerds would stop using Chrome. (Assuming it was not fairly straightforward to install from another source, as is increasingly true.) And we nerds tell our friends and family what browser they should be using. It’d hurt the overall popularity of the browser.

Also, it’s better for Chrome’s security reputation to allow AdBlock from within their store than to allow it from a third-party site. You don’t want to train users that it’s OK to install extensions with broad permissions from anywhere but the Chrome store!

It may become the case in the future that they re-evaluate these priorities, of course.

Unfortunately, Cyanogenmod's Privacy Guard does not block everything (e.g. your IMEI is still readable if permission READ_PHONE_STATE is granted). XPrivacy can help in this case, but its UI is quite convoluted.

Sure would be nice if someone would jailbreak the iPhone, so we could have these sorts of options in our little walled-gardens too.

Funny you say that, because iOS already has all these little options. What's better, apps still get installed and users don't have to make this decision upfront. When permission is required for the first time, dialog box pops up, and then you can refuse each permission individually - i.e. you can give Facebook access to location so you can check in, but block access to contacts.

Can't you already disable access to Contact, Calendar, Reminders, location, etc per app on the iPhone?

It's not without its own faults (and it used to have some huge gaps, such as address book access), but the iOS privacy model is simply a more user-centered paradigm than on Android.

Android apps ask you if you want to update to the new version or stick with the old one indefinitely; privacy settings are non-negotiable. iOS apps ask you as they go: If iOS had an SMS API, Facebook wouldn't need to ask you until you enabled two-factor authentication (assuming that's all they use it for). And you could turn it back off later if you weren't comfortable leaving it on.

Yes. And of course no app can read your text messages in the first place there.

Well, they could read all that other stuff by default with no warning previously until all sorts of apps abused it. Then Apple had to add in the prompts for things like reading Contacts. I'd imagine the Android devs are working on similar since the list of permissions model is breaking down.

Yes you can.

Welcome to two major iOS versions ago. iOS already has privacy controls. Check out Settings->Privacy.

The iphone has had fine-grained privacy before App Ops was released and then removed, and I also think before CyanogenMod had Privacy Guard. One of the few good things about the platform.

You don't need to. Apps can't read SMS and for the rest: You get asked for everything and can deny it.

On Android it's all or nothing.

Are you sure that you have an iPhone?

or MIUI that comes directly with the privacy feature.