MiFit Alternative with Low Permissions?

EightImmortals on 03/11/2017 - 11:28

Am I the only one who's concerned about the amount of permissions given to mobile apps? (Or am I the only one who reads them? :) ). I got the xaomi smart shoes from the deal the other week. Shoes themselves are fine so I figured, just out of curiosity I'll put the MiFit app on and keep track of my activity for a few weeks to see how I'm going. Then I read the permissions:

"Device & app history
retrieve running apps
Identity
find accounts on the device
Contacts
find accounts on the device
read your contacts
Location
approximate location (network-based)
precise location (GPS and network-based)
SMS
read your text messages (SMS or MMS)
receive text messages (SMS)
Phone
directly call phone numbers
read phone status and identity
Photos/Media/Files
read the contents of your USB storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Storage
read the contents of your USB storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
Camera
take pictures and videos
Wi-Fi connection information
view Wi-Fi connections
Device ID & call information
read phone status and identity
Other
view network connections
pair with Bluetooth devices
access Bluetooth settings
connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi
control flashlight
full network access
run at startup
control vibration
prevent device from sleeping
modify system settings
read Google service configuration"

Seriously?

Now I can understand that it might need to access parts of the phone and OS to do it's job but why on earth would a fitness monitor need to read my sms's, contacts, make phone calls etc? It's like these apps are designed primarily to hoover up as much personal data as possible and the actual function comes a distant second.

So I looked at some alternatives like Mi Band master and it was just as bad.

So is there a way to modify those permissions or an app that doesn't intrude so much?

Cheers

Mobile

Comments

  • Diji1 on 03/11/2017 - 11:38

    It's like these apps are designed primarily to hoover up as much personal data as possible

    Not only that, this is the entire point of Android: hoovering your data for Google to serve unwanted advertising by unknown third parties and to create situations, for example in retail establishments, where you buy things that you would not have if you hadn't used Android.

    • EightImmortals on 03/11/2017 - 12:35

      Fair enough. All that isn't enough to make me buy an Iphone. :) Also I couldn't get the device to pair anyway, so meh, I just unistalled it, will play around later. I also believe that the later android versions have a better permissions system so I'll check that out too.

    • dazweeja on 03/11/2017 - 17:13

      serve unwanted advertising by unknown third parties

      Are you saying the if Google collects your data using Android, you will be subject to more advertising (outside of Android) than if they didn't? Because I would argue that you would be advertised at in exactly the same situations whether you are an Android user or not, but if you are an Android user, the advertising would be more relevant to you. That means to me that it's likely to more wanted than irrelevant advertising. I don't know of any examples where an advertising platform has an opportunity to advertise to a potential customer but doesn't because Google doesn't have any data about them.

      I also don't know what "unknown third parties" means. If the advertiser is using Google data, it is Google that will be serving the advertising. They don't sell your data to third parties, that would destroy their entire business model.

  • Beanvee on 03/11/2017 - 14:07
    +1

    Hmm mine only asks for:
    take pictures with camera
    find accounts on device
    read contacts
    approximate gps
    receive text
    read text
    access SD card
    read phone status
    pair with bluetooth
    view network connections
    view running apps
    view wifi
    run at startup
    vibrate
    flashlight

    But through android I've only let it access storage so it can save my heartbeat data
    https://i.imgur.com/4RtuBcM.png
    I've also got AppOppsXposed blocking permissions https://i.imgur.com/FqdDhJw.png but vanilla android should suffice
    prevent sleep

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