I was happy that Shearwater decided to put out a free dive logging app for my droid, until it asked for access to my contacts and my phone. WTH Shearwater??
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- Thread starter Snoweman
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Both dive log apps I use asked for access to contacts, is this not normal? What is the issue? Cheers.
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On my apps the contact info is used when adding buddy info.
You can easily say "No" when it asks for your permission to your contacts. It is not like it forces you to say "Yes". Some people just need to find something to be offended about or complain about.
On Android it unfortunately works that way. My Diving Log Android app is also using the contacts permission to import buddies from the address book. This is an optional feature, so if you don't give this permission and don't want to use this feature, the app still works. But unfortunately it is the only way to access phone contacts and I've added this feature due to user feedback.
Diving Log is also not reading your complete address book. Instead it provides a contact picker, which allows you to import one contact at a time into your logbook, fully offline and locally on your phone. I wish Android would offer an official contact picker which does not require the permission to read all contacts.
Starting with Android 6.0 developers can make use of runtime permissions, which means the app is not asking for these permissions until they are actually used. So if you never use the contacts import, you never see this permission request and the app has never access to your contacts. I plan to switch to runtime permissions in the near future.
In the end this is all about trust. If you trust the developer, I see no problem in giving an OK to this permission. I'm sure Shearwater isn't selling your data, they are selling dive computers.
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Doesn't ask for it on the iPhone.
OP
Why does it want access to my phone? Is it going to call for emergency responders during my dive?
tcoen
Shearwater Research
Bluetooth connectivity under Android requires that our app has access to a user’s Contact, Media files, Location services, and Calls. Although the app requests these permissions, we can assure you that none of this information is actually collected.
The current situation is not ideal, so going forward we will be trying to limit permissions requirement to just “Device Location”, while still maintaining Bluetooth compatibility across a broad range of Android devices. We not sure if this is possible, but we understand the desire for privacy of such personal data and hope that divers can trust that we are not trying to collect this information.
Best regards,
Tyler Coen
Shearwater Research
The current situation is not ideal, so going forward we will be trying to limit permissions requirement to just “Device Location”, while still maintaining Bluetooth compatibility across a broad range of Android devices. We not sure if this is possible, but we understand the desire for privacy of such personal data and hope that divers can trust that we are not trying to collect this information.
Best regards,
Tyler Coen
Shearwater Research
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