Decide what an app is allowed to see
What you are agreeing to when an app asks for something, and be able to turn any of it off later without breaking anything.
When an app asks for your location, your contacts or your microphone, that box is a question. No is a complete answer, and almost every app carries on working perfectly well after you give it.
Key points
- Permission boxes are questions, and No is a complete answer
- “While using the app” is the right answer far more often than “Always”
- Your phone is almost certainly not listening — what it knows already is enough
- Cookie banners always offer Reject all, sometimes one press behind Manage preferences
- Every one of these can be changed later without breaking anything
What to remember
- Most apps work well with most of these switched off.
- The guessing is done from what you type, where you go and who you know. Good enough not to need a microphone.
- Compare the request with the job. Nearly every unreasonable permission gives itself away on that alone.
Try this
Open Settings on your phone, then Privacy, then Location. Most people find three or four apps they had entirely forgotten about.
Practice: Decide what an app is allowed to see. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.