Galaxy Store needs access to Phone and Contacts

[fz553]

Why does the Galaxy Store need access to my Phone and Contacts? It won't let me update any Samsung apps without it.

 

[lucianus_luciferus]

This is from the galaxy app privacy terms.

If you allow the sharing of Contacts information with us, the telephone numbers of the people in Contacts will be collected by us to facilitate file sharing and messaging with the people in your Contacts. You can turn off the file sharing and messaging features or restrict the scope of sharing by going to your profile settings.

So theoretically the app should work fine even with the permissions disabled.

 

[fz553]

This is from the galaxy app privacy terms.

If you allow the sharing of Contacts information with us, the telephone numbers of the people in Contacts will be collected by us to facilitate file sharing and messaging with the people in your Contacts. You can turn off the file sharing and messaging features or restrict the scope of sharing by going to your profile settings.

So theoretically the app should work fine even with the permissions disabled.

But it doesn't let me open the store without granting access to my contacts first. I feel like that's really shady of them to want access to my contacts without there being a reason yet.

 

[bembol]

Not towards OP but general question.


What's the big deal, I always wondered.

I have a co-worker that refuses to sign up for any Points/Rewards because he feels they will use it or steal his identity.

Is this similar?

Will the app not work if you don't accept?

 

[chanchan05]

Think of it this way. Your contacts are sitting in a Samsung phone with the software coded by Samsung. If they wanted access to your contacts and phone, they already have it even if they didn't ask your permission. This is just for certain features that the store app can directly share to Samsung contacts.

 

[mustang7757]

Why does the Galaxy Store need access to my Phone and Contacts? It won't let me update any Samsung apps without it.

View attachment 301876

The GALAXY App store is part of the profile Sharing the Samsung phones have, so nothing to be worried about .

 

[RegorTheGreat]

Think of it this way. Your contacts are sitting in a Samsung phone with the software coded by Samsung. If they wanted access to your contacts and phone, they already have it even if they didn't ask your permission. This is just for certain features that the store app can directly share to Samsung contacts.

That is not correct. That would be a breach of personal information, hence the reason the app is asking for these permissions. It might be a Samsung phone, but it's using Google's Android OS which has proper security that companies must (should) follow or they can get sued for breach of personal information...and Samsung, being one of the biggest suppliers of phones will definitely not want to get on the wrong side. There's always the chance of them, or someone within their organization, could attempt to gain access to such information. But that is still against the law.
As for the app requiring us to allow these permissions is, to say the least, a stupid move on their part and a bit shady. Once you agree, by the time you go into settings to turn it off, they already can get your full list of contacts. This is simply a a workaround to be compliant with regulations, but still get info you don't want shared. Hopefully complaints stack up enough to push back on them to "Do NOT do this and change this immediately!"

The GALAXY App store is part of the profile Sharing the Samsung phones have, so nothing to be worried about .

I've never had to allow the sharing of my personal information to use their app in the past. I don't think this is accurate. I want to access their store to purchase an app. They do not need to know all my contacts to do that. And, I won't let that information out in respect to all the people I have in my contacts list! This should be of concern to everyone!!
The only reason I would want to share this information is for Samsung Backup...But that is different from the store and I don't think there is any relation.

 

[mustang7757]

I've never had to allow the sharing of my personal information to use their app in the past. I don't think this is accurate. I want to access their store to purchase an app. They do not need to know all my contacts to do that. And, I won't let that information out in respect to all the people I have in my contacts list! This should be of concern to everyone!!
The only reason I would want to share this information is for Samsung Backup...But that is different from the store and I don't think there is any relation.

If you didn't use profile sharing or turn it on, guess you have nothing to worry . You know what worries me ? Carriers selling our phone numbers , robocalls ect .

 

[RegorTheGreat]

If you didn't use profile sharing or turn it on, guess you have nothing to worry . You know what worries me ? Carriers selling our phone numbers , robocalls ect .

Exactly!! You know how much Samsung could make off of selling this info collected from us. What sux is that other people have my information and may not realize what they are agreeing to which will potentially screw me over. Awareness is needed about things such as this. I don't have profile sharing or any of that enabled. But if I was to agree tip that BS they are asking for, whether or not I have profile sharing on or off, I've just given them a way to steal my information (actually allow them to take it). So I won't be accessing their store until they fix it. No way am I agreeing to that!

 

[chanchan05]

That is not correct. That would be a breach of personal information, hence the reason the app is asking for these permissions. It might be a Samsung phone, but it's using Google's Android OS which has proper security that companies must (should) follow or they can get sued for breach of personal information...and Samsung, being one of the biggest suppliers of phones will definitely not want to get on the wrong side. There's always the chance of them, or someone within their organization, could attempt to gain access to such information. But that is still against the law.
As for the app requiring us to allow these permissions is, to say the least, a stupid move on their part and a bit shady. Once you agree, by the time you go into settings to turn it off, they already can get your full list of contacts. This is simply a a workaround to be compliant with regulations, but still get info you don't want shared. Hopefully complaints stack up enough to push back on them to "Do NOT do this and change this immediately!"

No. If your contacts are saved to the phone (and not Google or any of the other choices), it's by default set to save to Samsung Cloud. So yes, your personal info are already on one of the servers of whatever service you chose.
This is also like by default on Pixel phones the contacta are being sent to Google servers.
The companies are labelling this as a backup feature.

 

[frederickdawg]

I noticed the same thing when I tried using Samsung link sharing. I denied it and denied myself in turn to use it. Smh.

 

[RegorTheGreat]

No. If your contacts are saved to the phone (and not Google or any of the other choices), it's by default set to save to Samsung Cloud. So yes, your personal info are already on one of the servers of whatever service you chose.
This is also like by default on Pixel phones the contacta are being sent to Google servers.
The companies are labelling this as a backup feature.

I'm fine with the info stored on Google. But the app also requires access to "make calls" which I don't the galaxy app store has any legitimate reason for that. I can only assume they want that access to get detailed info about call logs...Still, why...? In short, I fail to see any reasoning on allowing such access to my personal data in order to simply open and use an app store. If Samsung already has access to said data, then what reasoning would they have to ask in the first place.....?

 

[mustang7757]

I'm fine with the info stored on Google. But the app also requires access to "make calls" which I don't the galaxy app store has any legitimate reason for that. I can only assume they want that access to get detailed info about call logs...Still, why...? In short, I fail to see any reasoning on allowing such access to my personal data in order to simply open and use an app store. If Samsung already has access to said data, then what reasoning would they have to ask in the first place.....?

You can change permission, so if disable that service it's fine . This is nothing new in Android phones.

 

[RegorTheGreat]

Sorry, I think the conversion is being directed in the wrong direction here. About Samsung having access to our data...that's essentially not related to what is actually happening here. The issue arty hand has to do with the app itself asking for rights to the data. Samsung as an entity and the app were completely separate here and I think this may be misleading a bit. Regardless of what Samsung has access to and whatnot, the key point is why the app needs access to this data as how it plans on using it?
The Galaxy App privacy terms simply doesn't make sense for its operation. I'm not exactly sure why sharing and messaging would be needed in a app store unless it was simply to share apps. But a simple link to the app is all that is needed that you can use to share with email or messaging app...without having to share all the data.
The app should, at most, simply inform the user when denying access that the choice made may prevent said actions and limited functionality rather than blocking the use of the app if denied.

 

[mustang7757]

Sorry, I think the conversion is being directed in the wrong direction here. About Samsung having access to our data...that's essentially not related to what is actually happening here. The issue arty hand has to do with the app itself asking for rights to the data. Samsung as an entity and the app were completely separate here and I think this may be misleading a bit. Regardless of what Samsung has access to and whatnot, the key point is why the app needs access to this data as how it plans on using it?
The Galaxy App privacy terms simply doesn't make sense for its operation. I'm not exactly sure why sharing and messaging would be needed in a app store unless it was simply to share apps. But a simple link to the app is all that is needed that you can use to share with email or messaging app...without having to share all the data.
The app should, at most, simply inform the user when denying access that the choice made may prevent said actions and limited functionality rather than blocking the use of the app if denied.

Think about it , Google play store ask for storage,sms,contacts why would the play store ask for this well to make Google assistant better,Google services ect.

This is same for Galaxy app store for functionality of it's Galaxy user experience.

 

[frederickdawg]

Sorry, I think the conversion is being directed in the wrong direction here. About Samsung having access to our data...that's essentially not related to what is actually happening here. The issue arty hand has to do with the app itself asking for rights to the data. Samsung as an entity and the app were completely separate here and I think this may be misleading a bit. Regardless of what Samsung has access to and whatnot, the key point is why the app needs access to this data as how it plans on using it?
The Galaxy App privacy terms simply doesn't make sense for its operation. I'm not exactly sure why sharing and messaging would be needed in a app store unless it was simply to share apps. But a simple link to the app is all that is needed that you can use to share with email or messaging app...without having to share all the data.
The app should, at most, simply inform the user when denying access that the choice made may prevent said actions and limited functionality rather than blocking the use of the app if denied.

Samsung Social.

 

[D.P.G.]

Turn off Samsung Customization Service in the Galaxy Store app or follow the instruction's in the link. Everything works perfectly with it disabled. I think Samsung is going a bit to far with this.

https://www.samsung.com/us/account/customization-service/

 

[RegorTheGreat]

Turn off Samsung Customization Service in the Galaxy Store app or follow the instruction's in the link. Everything works perfectly with it disabled. I think Samsung is going a bit to far with this.

https://www.samsung.com/us/account/customization-service/

Nice! Thank you for that info. I guess this solves this whole dilemma.

 

[MiG_]

Turn off Samsung Customization Service in the Galaxy Store app or follow the instruction's in the link. Everything works perfectly with it disabled. I think Samsung is going a bit to far with this.

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...unt%2Fcustomization-service%2F&token=4Ut9C-5f

Nice! Thank you for that info. I guess this solves this whole dilemma.

Does it? As soon as one of the Samsung apps shows an orange 'N' (i.e. 'update(s) available') and I tap 'update', it will launch the galaxy app, which then complains about not having access to contacts.

Reading the page you linked to seems to suggest you have to consent to your contacts being shared first (therefore also uploading them to their systems), before subsequently disabling that in your account settings. I don't want my contacts to be copied from my phone in the first place!

 

[lucianus_luciferus]

Well if you really don't want that to happen then just save your contacts to your Google account, remove the Google account form your phone, use the galaxy store app, remove contacts permission from the galaxy store app, add your Google account.
Simple.