Permissions for Barcode Reader Apps?

[pmkelly00]

Greetings! Just picked up a Motorola Droid and have been anxious to start using all these great apps I keep hearing about. My problem, though, is that they seem to need/have permissions that don't make sense to me. As such, I am hesitant to download them. Two in particular have me baffled.

I looked up "Barcode Scanner" and it claims to need/have permission to read and write to my contact list, as well as see my web browser history. That made me pretty nervous.

So then I found "ShopSavvy" and it claims to need/have permission to change my WiFi state. Again, I don't understand why it would need to do that. (As an aside, when searching for answers, I saw complaints about this app turning WiFi on and people found it because their battery was draining faster.)

Are there any logical reasons for these permissions? Is anyone else concerned?

Many thanks for any insight (or alternatives) you can offer!

Pat

[Anonymouse]

Well, the writing to contact list is because Barcode Scanner can add contacts to your phone through QR code.

[LordKastle]

As Anonymouse said...that is probably the reason for it in this case.

But good thing for questioning...its always good to air on the side of caution when it comes to an open operating system like Android. The benefits are unlimited but one should always err on the side of caution when recognizing that something seems a bit odd.

edit: takeshi got me.

[takeshi]

its always good to air on the side of caution when it comes to an open operating system like Android.

..even better to err on the side of caution.

[pmkelly00]

Thanks, everyone. That certainly helps me gain some perspective with it all. I'm off to experiment with it a bit. Thanks!

[Nepherim]

I looked up "Barcode Scanner" and it claims to need/have permission to read and write to my contact list, as well as see my web browser history.

I don't use it for exactly this reason. Try ShopSavvy instead. It does the same basic thing (except, crucially, it doesn't read QR codes), without the excess permission requirements.

Or, now, new to the market, try Google Goggles, which does read QR tags, and barcodes, but ALSO recognizes images, pictures of buildings, pictures, can business cards, read text from an image, and logos! Okay, it's not particularly effective right now, but incredible amount of potential.