Every time you install a new app, it usually asks to use something on your phone. Maybe your camera. Maybe your location. Sometimes even your contacts list.
It is easy to tap “Allow” without thinking, just to make the pop-up go away. Most of us have done it.
But some of those requests do not make sense. A simple game asking for your microphone. A flashlight app asking for your contacts. Those mismatches are worth a second look, because they are one of the ways scammers and shady app makers quietly collect information they should never have.
This guide explains what app permissions actually are, which ones matter most, how to check and change them on your iPhone or Android phone, and how to spot a request that is a genuine red flag.
What Are App Permissions, and Which Ones Should You Allow?
App permissions are the pieces of your phone, like your camera, microphone, location or contacts, that an app asks for your approval to use, and you should only allow the ones a given app truly needs to do its job.
A weather app needs your location to tell you the forecast where you are. A video calling app needs your camera and microphone to work at all. Those make sense.
But permissions are not automatic once you grant them. On both iPhones and Android phones, you can say yes to one app and no to another for the exact same permission. You can also change your mind later and turn a permission off without deleting the app.
Plain talk: permission
A permission is simply your approval for an app to use one specific thing, like your camera or your location. Saying yes to one app does not say yes for every app.
The four permissions that matter most
- Camera: lets an app take photos or video, or see through your camera in real time. Needed for video calls, photo apps and scanning apps.
- Microphone: lets an app record or listen to sound. Needed for phone calls, voice memos and voice assistants.
- Location: lets an app know where you are, either all the time, only while you are using it, or just once. Needed for maps, weather and delivery tracking.
- Contacts: lets an app see the names, numbers and emails saved on your phone. Needed for messaging apps and apps that help you call or text people you know.
Here is a simple way to think about each one:
| Permission | What it lets the app do | A legitimate reason to allow it |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | See or record through your camera | Video calling, taking photos in-app |
| Microphone | Hear or record sound near your phone | Phone calls, voice memos, voice search |
| Location | Know where your phone is | Maps, weather, finding nearby stores |
| Contacts | See names and numbers saved on your phone | A messaging app matching you to friends |
Why do apps ask for permissions in the first place?
Some app makers ask for exactly what they need and nothing more. That is how it should work.
Others ask for more than they need, often to sell that information to advertisers or data brokers. A 2015 Pew Research Center study of the Google Play Store found that the average app requested about five permissions, and that many of those permissions covered access to personal information rather than just the phone’s hardware. The same study found that 60 percent of app users had chosen not to install an app after seeing what personal information it wanted to access.
That is the key idea: the number and type of permissions an app asks for is a real signal about how much that company wants from you, not just what the app needs to function.
Safety tip
Be extra cautious with any app that asks for contacts, location and microphone access all at once, especially a simple app like a game, flashlight or photo filter. That combination is rarely needed for the app to work.
How to review and change app permissions on your iPhone
- Open Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Privacy & Security.
- Tap a category, such as Camera, Microphone, Location Services or Contacts.
- You will see every app that has asked for that permission. Tap any app to change its access, or turn off the toggle next to an app you want to block.
- For location, you can usually choose Never, Ask Next Time, While Using the App, or Always. Choosing While Using the App is a safe middle ground for most apps.
Your iPhone also shows a small orange dot near the top of the screen whenever an app is actively using your microphone, and a green dot when the camera is in use. If you see a dot and do not know why, that is worth checking straight away.
How to review and change app permissions on your Android phone
Steps can vary slightly by phone brand, but this works on most recent Android phones:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Privacy (or Apps, depending on your phone).
- Tap Permission manager.
- Tap a permission, such as Camera, Microphone, Location or Contacts.
- You will see which apps can use it. Tap an app and choose Allow, Ask every time, or Don’t allow.
Android phones also show a green dot in the top corner when the camera or microphone is being used, and you can open the Privacy Dashboard in Settings to see a timeline of which apps used which permissions recently. If you have a Samsung phone set up in Easy Mode, our guide to Samsung Easy Mode shows where the simplified settings menu lives.
Try this
Once your permissions are set the way you want, open your phone’s app list and count how many apps actually have location or microphone access turned on. If a number surprises you, that is a good moment to turn a few off.
Red flags: when a permission request does not add up
The clearest example on record involves a flashlight app. In December 2013, the Federal Trade Commission settled charges against the maker of a popular Android flashlight app called Brightest Flashlight Free. According to the FTC, the app collected users’ precise location and a unique device identifier and sent that information to advertising networks, without properly telling users it was doing so. The app had been downloaded tens of millions of times, and turning on a light was the only thing it actually needed to do.
That case is years old now, but the pattern it revealed has not gone away. Ask yourself these questions before allowing a permission:
- Does this permission have anything to do with what the app is supposed to do?
- Would the app still make sense if I said no?
- Is this a free app from a company I have never heard of?
If an app fails more than one of those checks, it is safer to tap Don’t Allow and see if the app still works. Most of the time, it does.
Say this
If you are helping a parent or grandparent go through their apps together, try: “Let’s check what this one can see on your phone. If it does not need it to work, we will turn it off.”
This kind of quiet data collection is also how some scams get their start. An app that can see your contacts, for example, can hand a scammer a ready-made list of family members to impersonate later. It is the same reason we cover red flags for how scammers ask for payment elsewhere on this site, and why it pays to be just as alert to what an app is quietly collecting as to what a caller is asking for outright.
If you are setting up a phone for an older relative, it is worth going through permissions together while you are already in the settings menu. Our guide on how to set up a phone for an elderly parent covers the other settings worth checking at the same time, and if you cannot be there in person, our guide to helping a parent with their iPhone remotely walks through doing this over a video call.
Where to go from here
App permissions are one small setting, but they add up to a real say in what your phone shares and with whom. A few minutes spent reviewing them, especially for apps that no longer make sense once you think about it, is time well spent.
If you want more help spotting the tricks scammers and shady apps use to gather your information, our Scam-Proof book walks through this and many other everyday warning signs in plain language.
