Why any android app needs my personal information?

[Uditsh]

Why they need to know about my location or any other personal information? Is it fine to give permissions about personal information?

 

[VidJunky]

I suppose that is up to you. Although you're not likely to find many that don't want to know something about you. I won't speak as to why they want this information but rather a little more generally. They may want to know what device you have so that they can gauge their audience, your location for that reason as well but possibly to gear ads embedded in the app. If you look through your Google settings, there is an icon in your app drawer just for Google settings, you will see that they kind of transparently ask for permission to customize ads that come to your device. As part of that they want to know your location, the type of device you have, some personal information, and what is installed on your device. I've heard, but haven't seen from Google, yet, that they are developing a way to send ads to your device based on where you go so they can give you live ads. So if you frequent cafe's and are in the neighborhood that has a cafe that is offering a special they can send you an ad for that special. Some apps already do this, FourSquare, Yelp, and Where each do this to varying degrees. KeyRing does this. If you use your KeyRing app at a particular retailer they will send you alerts about specials they have as well as popups when you are near a retailer you've used your KeyRing app. Of course you can try to find apps that don't ask for so many permissions but these days those are few and far between. Even game apps want to know your location, access your social media, and your photos. Why would a game ever need to see what photos you've taken?

All I can say about any of this is to read the reviews of the apps you download. Look at the 1 and 2 star reviews and see if the app is causing anyone any issues that raise flags with you. Don't install apps that have less than a 3.5 star rating. It's no guarantee but these two steps will reduce your headaches. The days of just agreeing with terms and conditions without taking note are over.

GL

 

[soundmaven]

Personal information permissions may sound scary, but more often than not they are harmless. If it's a social or a messaging app, like Twitter or Foursquare, or a home screen contacts widget, then the permission to read your contacts makes perfect sense. The rule of thumb is if an app doesn't have any social aspect, there's no need for this permission. Some PIM or task management apps may need a permission to read from your calendar. As for your location, well, if the app in question for example tells you information about finding things like businesses, it needs to know where you are. Some apps may get their revenue from location-based ads.

As the other poster have said, look at the ratings, read the reviews, and use a bit of common sense. If still unsure, ask the developer directly. If they don't respond, move on. I'm a dev myself and I often get messages about one of our apps that makes extensive use of location services as well as Google Analytics. We always try to respond calmly and explain why we need the permissions in question, that we're not collecting or sending any personally identifiable information. However some people are so paranoid when it comes to personal information, that there's literally nothing you can say to ease their mind. I'm not saying that there's no malicious apps on the market, only that in reality most developers have no bad intentions, they just want to make apps that make them a little money.

 

[Uditsh]

Thanks for sharing good suggestions.