Question Moto G changing app permissions

[ca_curmudgeon]

Hi. I just bought a new Moto G last week. I carefully went through the app list and set permissions to the minimum required to operate. In particular, I denied access to location and contacts as much as possible.

I just went back into settings. Many of my carefully curated permission settings have been changed. The Google related apps especially seem to be grabbing data I did not allow them to have.

I don't use any Google services. I had to have a Google account to set up my phone. But I deleted the account username and password from the phone before loading any data. I don't sync or use the cloud. I did install some apps. But I did that on an empty phone with no user data such as contacts. And after setting up the phone, but before loading any data, I used a different device to change my Google password.

I use Brave and Firefox as my browsers and disabled Chrome. I don't have a Gmail account and I disabled the Gmail app. I use Protonmail.

Is Google or Moto changing app permissions to harvest data? It's stunning that so many apps suddenly have access to location, contacts, microphone, mail,... Am I losing my marbles?

Thank you so much for any insights you can offer.

 

[steffi]

If you have security apps or settings which manage permissions, they might be causing conflicts: - Go to **Settings** > **Security** or **Privacy**. - Disable any features that automatically manage app permissions or battery usage.

 

[IsHacker]

Hi. I just bought a new Moto G last week. I carefully went through the app list and set permissions to the minimum required to operate. In particular, I denied access to location and contacts as much as possible.

I just went back into settings. Many of my carefully curated permission settings have been changed. The Google related apps especially seem to be grabbing data I did not allow them to have.

I don't use any Google services. I had to have a Google account to set up my phone. But I deleted the account username and password from the phone before loading any data. I don't sync or use the cloud. I did install some apps. But I did that on an empty phone with no user data such as contacts. And after setting up the phone, but before loading any data, I used a different device to change my Google password.

I use Brave and Firefox as my browsers and disabled Chrome. I don't have a Gmail account and I disabled the Gmail app. I use Protonmail.

Is Google or Moto changing app permissions to harvest data? It's stunning that so many apps suddenly have access to location, contacts, microphone, mail,... Am I losing my marbles?

Thank you so much for any insights you can offer.

Google is known for invading your privacy by collecting your data 24x7 and using it for "Real-time bidding" to earn money. They do it in the background, so it doesn't matter if you use their services or not. In this process, their apps also slow down your device and drain battery (by way too much). That's why you should use microG, but it requires an unlocked bootloader. Best you can do is disable all the Google apps that you don't need.

 

[B. Diddy]

Google is known for invading your privacy by collecting your data 24x7 and "selling" it to earn money. They do it in the background, so it doesn't matter if you use their services or not. In this process, their apps also slow down your device and drain battery (by way too much). That's why you should use microG, but it requires an unlocked bootloader. Best you can do is disable all the Google apps that you don't need.

This is inaccurate. Google does not sell any user data, because they don't have to -- they have such a huge trove of ads themselves, that they can internally use the data to determine the right ads to serve up. The fact that they don't sell user data is clearly stated in the privacy policy.

 

[IsHacker]

This is inaccurate. Google does not sell any user data, because they don't have to -- they have such a huge trove of ads themselves, that they can internally use the data to determine the right ads to serve up. The fact that they don't sell user data is clearly stated in the privacy policy.

Thanks. Corrected.