Protect your security by controlling app permissions

Plus: Protecting your contacts' privacy, photo library access explained, what camera and microphone access really means, and changing permissions after you've already said yes

Every time you install a new app, it asks permission to access different parts of your phone. Camera. Location. Contacts. Microphone. Photos. Most people quickly tap “Allow” to dismiss the pop-up without understanding what they just agreed to or why the app needed that access in the first place.

These permission requests aren’t random. Apps need specific capabilities to work properly, but some apps request far more access than they actually need. Understanding what each permission means helps you make informed decisions about which apps get access to what.

Today you’ll learn:

• Why apps request camera, microphone, location, contacts, and photo access

• The difference between “Allow Once,” “While Using,” and “Always Allow” for location

• What happens when you deny a permission request

• How to review and change permissions for apps you already installed months ago

• Which permissions are reasonable for different types of apps to request

• Why some apps stop working properly when you deny certain permissions

• How to identify apps requesting suspicious or unnecessary access

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Apps can’t access your phone’s features without asking first. This protection exists because unrestricted access would let apps read your messages, track your location constantly, record audio without your knowledge, or access every photo you’ve ever taken. Permission requests force apps to ask explicitly before accessing sensitive information.

When you see a permission pop-up, the app is requesting one-time or ongoing access to a specific phone capability. The permission descriptions explain what the app wants access to, but they don’t always explain why it needs it.

Different permissions carry different privacy implications. Location tracking reveals where you go throughout the day. Camera and microphone access could, in theory, allow apps to record without an obvious indication. Contact access allows apps to access everyone’s phone numbers and email addresses from your address book. Photo access potentially exposes every personal image on your phone.

Understanding these implications helps you decide whether to grant access. A navigation app reasonably needs location. A flashlight app requesting your contacts doesn’t make sense.

Location permission appears most frequently because many apps need to know your location to provide relevant information or services.

Photo by henry perks

For iPhone users:

When an app requests location access, you see options including “Allow Once,” “Allow While Using App,” or “Don’t Allow.” A fourth option, “Allow Always,” appears for apps that claim they need location even when you’re not actively using them.

“Allow Once” grants temporary location access for this single session. When you close the app, the permission expires. Use this for apps you rarely use or when trying an app for the first time.

“Allow While Using App” gives location access only when the app is open on your screen. This works well for most apps, including navigation, weather, and restaurant finders. The app can’t track you in the background.

“Don’t Allow” completely blocks location access. The app won’t know where you are.

To review location permissions for all apps, go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services. You’ll see every app that ever requested location and can change permissions individually.

For Android users:

Android offers similar options: “Allow only while using the app,” “Ask every time,” or “Don’t allow.” Recent Android versions added “Precise” versus “Approximate” location choices.

“Precise location” gives your exact GPS coordinates. “Approximate location” provides your general area without pinpoint accuracy. For weather apps, approximate location works fine. Navigation apps need precise location to provide turn-by-turn directions.

To review Android location permissions, go to Settings, Location, App location permissions. All apps with location access appear here, along with options to adjust permissions.

Which apps reasonably need location:

• Maps and navigation apps (need “While Using” or “Always” for turn-by-turn directions)

• Weather apps (work fine with “While Using” or approximate location)

• Food delivery and ride-sharing apps (need “While Using” for finding you)

• Camera apps that tag photos with location data (need “While Using”)

Which apps don’t need location:

• Flashlight apps

• Calculator apps

• Games (unless location is core to gameplay)

• Reading apps or note-taking apps

• Most social media apps (they work fine without it)

"Super simple but vital information, such as about passwords. We spend more and more time online these days..."

Jen Nold, a Screen Skills supporter

Camera and microphone permissions let apps capture photos, videos, or audio.

If I share my location with someone on WhatsApp (perfect if you want to find each other in a city), the app only accepts ‘always allow,’ instead of the perfectly reasonable ‘while using the app.’ That is nonsense. Once you have found your friend, go back to settings and return the setting to ‘never.’ There is no reason why Mark Zuckerberg should know 24/7 where you are hanging out, long after the half hour you needed to locate your friend. So whenever I switch to ‘always allow’, I immediately set a reminder to switch it off later.

Photo by Glen Carrie

For iPhone users:

Camera requests appear when apps want to take photos or scan QR codes. Reasonable requests come from camera apps, video calling apps, document scanners, and social media apps when you’re posting photos.

Microphone requests occur when apps want to record audio. Video calling apps need microphone access. Voice recording apps obviously need it. Some games use a microphone for voice chat features.

To review these permissions, go to Settings, Privacy & Security, then Camera or Microphone. You’ll see which apps have access and can revoke it for any that shouldn’t need it.

For Android users:

The process mirrors iPhone. Go to Settings, Privacy, Permission Manager, then select Camera or Microphone to see all apps with access.

For iPhone/Android:

On iPhone, orange or green dots appear in your status bar when the camera or microphone is active. Android shows small camera or microphone icons in the top-right corner of the status bar. These indicators (as we discussed in Friday’s newsletter) help you catch unauthorized recording.

Red flags:

• Flashlight apps requesting camera access

• Calculator apps wanting microphone access

• Simple games requesting camera without obvious reason

• Utility apps with no photo/video features requesting camera

Photo permission lets apps access images stored on your phone.

For iPhone users:

You can grant full access to all photos or select specific photos to share. The “Select Photos” option protects privacy while still allowing apps to function. Social media apps that post photos only need access to the images you select, not your entire photo library. That’s the option I use. It is a little more work because you first have to select the photos you allow the app to access, but it avoids sharing this photo data (including where you have been and when) with unknown people in another country that may have less privacy protections than in your country.

Review photo permissions at Settings, Privacy & Security, Photos.

For Android users:

Android offers similar granular control. Apps can request access to all photos or specific images. Choose “Select photos and videos” when given the option rather than “Allow access to all photos.”

Find these settings at Settings, Privacy, Permission Manager, Photos and videos.

Reasonable photo access requests:

• Social media when posting images

• Photo editing apps

• Document scanning apps

• Messaging apps when sending pictures

Questionable requests:

• Games with no photo-sharing features

• Utility apps with no image-related functionality

• Flashlight or calculator apps

Contact permission grants apps access to your entire address book, including names, phone numbers, and email addresses.

Both platforms:

This is one of the most sensitive permissions because it exposes other people’s information, not just yours. When you grant contacts access, the app retrieves everyone’s contact details without those people's consent.

Messaging apps reasonably need contacts to show you who’s messaging you. Social media apps request contacts to find friends who use the same service. Calendar apps might need contacts to invite people to events.

However, many apps request contacts simply to build marketing databases or encourage you to spam friends with invitations. Think carefully before granting contact access.

To review contact permissions: iPhone users go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Contacts. Android users go to Settings, Privacy, Permission Manager, Contacts.

If you deny permission, the app typically either works with reduced functionality or displays an error message explaining what won’t work.

Navigation apps that are denied location permission can’t provide directions. Camera apps denied camera access, can’t take photos. These limitations make sense.

However, some apps refuse to work entirely if you deny permissions they don’t actually need. This suggests the app is more interested in collecting your data than providing a useful service. Consider whether you really need that app.

You can always change your mind. Grant permission temporarily to test how the app works, then revoke it later if you’re uncomfortable with the access level.

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A new series in The Planet

I still have more on status bar icons, tech news, battery life, and more. We’ll get there in a minute. But you may like to know what is happening in one of my other newsletters, The Planet, where I just started a new series:

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Worth knowing

App permissions became mandatory on iOS in 2012 and on Android in 2015, following privacy concerns about apps silently accessing personal data without user knowledge. Early smartphones allowed apps unrestricted access to phone features, leading to apps that secretly recorded conversations, tracked location constantly, or uploaded entire contact lists.

The permission system evolved to require explicit user consent before apps can access sensitive data. However, permission fatigue means many users automatically tap “Allow” without reading what they’re granting access to, which partially undermines privacy protections.

Recent updates added temporary permissions (”Allow Once”) and granular controls (selecting specific photos instead of granting access to entire libraries) to give users more nuanced control.

The trend toward privacy-focused app design means more apps now explain why they need specific permissions before requesting them, helping users make informed decisions rather than just seeing cryptic system popups.

Tech news

iPhone now shows permission recap notifications after apps access sensitive data. iOS 18 introduced weekly privacy reports showing which apps accessed your location, camera, microphone, and contacts in the past week. A notification appears summarizing this activity, letting you review whether the access was appropriate. To view detailed reports, go to Settings, Privacy & Security, App Privacy Report. This helps you identify apps accessing data more frequently than expected.

Android expanded permission auto-reset for unused apps. If you haven’t opened an app in six months, Android now automatically revokes all permissions granted to that app. When you next open the app, it asks for permissions again, as if it were newly installed. This prevents old, forgotten apps from maintaining access to your camera, location, or contacts indefinitely. Check Settings, Privacy, Permission Manager to see which apps had permissions auto-revoked.

Both platforms added clipboard access notifications. When apps read what you copied to your clipboard, a small notification appears at the top of your screen showing which app accessed the clipboard. This exposes apps that constantly monitor your clipboard for copied passwords, addresses, or other sensitive information. If you see frequent clipboard access from apps that don’t need it, consider uninstalling them or denying clipboard permission in settings.

Photo by Dan Nelson

Permission Manager

(Android only - built-in feature, not an app)

Permission Manager is Android’s built-in tool for reviewing all permissions granted to your apps, organized by permission type rather than by app. This reveals patterns you might miss when checking apps individually.

Access it through Settings, Privacy, Permission Manager. Instead of going app-by-app, you see categories like Location, Camera, Microphone, and Contacts. Tap any category to see every app with that permission, making it easy to spot apps that shouldn’t have access.

The interface shows three permission levels for most categories: “Allowed all the time,” “Allowed only while in use,” and “Ask every time” or “Not allowed.” You can quickly change permissions for multiple apps without navigating through each app’s individual settings page.

Usage statistics show how recently apps accessed each permission. If an app has location permission but hasn’t used it in months, you might want to revoke access since the app clearly doesn’t need it.

Special access settings like “Display over other apps” or “Modify system settings” also appear here. These advanced permissions can affect system behavior and security, so periodically reviewing them helps catch potentially problematic apps.

Permission Manager requires no installation since it’s built into Android. Just navigate to Settings, Privacy, Permission Manager to start using it.

Quick Fix

If an app suddenly stops working after you denied a permission, the fix takes 15 seconds. Go to your phone’s main Settings, find the app in your app list (on iPhone, scroll down in Settings; on Android, tap Apps). Select the app and look for Permissions. You’ll see every permission the app requested, along with whether you allowed or denied it. Enable the permission the app needs to function, then reopen the app. It should work normally. If you’re uncomfortable granting permission, consider whether you really need that app or if an alternative with less access is available.

Did you read this one?

Questions?

What problems are you encountering with your phone, tablet, or computer right now? Maybe it's something you've been putting up with for months, or a new issue that just started this week. Screen Skills works best when it addresses real problems that real people face, so leave a comment, send me a direct message, or reply to this email and tell me what's making your digital life harder than it needs to be. Your question might become next week's newsletter.

Until next time,
Alexander

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Today, you can get a 20% discount on the first year of your subscription.

If this newsletter provides useful information that reduces your screen frustration, improves your output, and makes spending time online more fun for you, please consider supporting this newsletter that occupies a unique niche on Substack: digital tips for non-digital people.

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A new newsletter: More

There’s always more to say than fits in these newsletters. That’s why I started “More“—a place for follow-ups, updates, deeper explorations, and the content that doesn’t fit the structured format of Screen Skills or the other newsletters. Think of it as a peek into my writing notebook, where I share valuable information that would otherwise be lost.

Read the latest More newsletter that I posted yesterday:

Your Questions Answered: Cat Games on iPad, Sacred Numbers, Figure Skating, and Édith Piaf

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On Wednesday, I also published a glimpse of my island life on Patreon:

Painting with Light in Zierikzee: An Evening at the Sea Light Festival

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Or perhaps you enjoyed the article and would like to support my writing by buying me a coffee?

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And there is one more newsletter, Daybreak Notes and Beans, with a focus on positive news to counterbalance the negative headlines you see all day. On most days of the week, I share ten uplifting news stories about science, health, art, travel, archaeology, or any other topic I think you’ll enjoy reading or that will give you hope now that we need it. Try it:

Know Your Daily Coffee Amount That Reduces Dementia Risk