Read Phone State (my IMEI / Phone Number) Permission!

[OliverK]

Why do you need my unique hardware identifier for VLC for Android?

Please remove the permission, MX Player doesn't need it either.

Best regards, and thanks for bringing VLC to my favorite OS!

Oliver

[XilasZ]

We don't use any phone data, we use phone state permission to pause playback when receiving phone calls.
It seems the same permission gives access to phone data, but we don't use them (you can check the code if you want).

[OliverK]

Hello XilasZ,
thanks for your reply.

It's a common error that rps is needed for handling incomming calls. that's really a device feature. go try mx player and call yourself, you'll see what i mean.

i'm aware that the permission is getting wasted with many apps, but it's really a possible security/privacy hole for the enduser.

i (among surely most of your users) are not codeaware enough, i only see the permission in the market...

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Why do you need my unique hardware identifier for VLC for Android?

To re-sell it to evil companies

[OliverK]

To re-sell it to evil companies

exactly!

come on guys! i know you can do it!
I'm a vlc fan since I'm 14, and I'm 83 now!!

lets be a little efficient and starve some permissons, shall we!

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Hello XilasZ,
It's a common error that rps is needed for handling incomming calls.

We need android.intent.action.PHONE_STATE

[OliverK]

We need android.intent.action.PHONE_STATE

How does MX Player do it without, then?

https://sites.google.com/site/mxvpen/

please take a look in it. that permission is really a huge ripoff.
i do trust you guys and know you wouldnt do evil, but such a big and beloved project like vlc has to set an example for freedom and privacy on my opinion. i mean, thats basically the goal behind free software.

and this permission regularly gets abused by all sorts of wacky devs to make more revenue with their ads. its just a disguise permission for reading my identity.

when i go online in the windows world, my phone number, hence my real name is never revealed to the developer either.

it cant be that just to receive a phonecall the app has to (possibly) know my ID. its madness.
MX player works and pauses without, please take a look in it.

please set a standard here! everyones eyes and hopes are on vlc

[edwardw]

please take a look in it

MX Player is closed, proprietary software. We cannot see their source code (well, at least not legally).

[OliverK]

MX Player is closed, proprietary software. We cannot see their source code (well, at least not legally).

darn
i'll see if i can find some documentation on the matter.

this permission really is a thorn in my eye. everyones crying about acta, sopa and what not, facebook buttons, but have no problem with installing the 50% RPS apps from the market...

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

We need android.intent.action.PHONE_STATE

How does MX Player do it without, then?

MX Player does not implement and audio player service.

If you play a video and get a call, then the dialer comes up, you do not need to have a special permission.

If you have an audio playback service and audio background functionnality, you need this permission to stop the playback. Complain to Google.

[XilasZ]

To be more precise, MX Player plays videos, so the player is always on the foreground. When there's a call, the screen to answer shows up, and mx player is put in the background. That's easy to detect and pause the video.

As jb said, vlc also plays audio, using a service. so it's always in the background, and there's no way to detect phone calls without this permission.

[meagain]

I was about installing the app on my phone as it is one of my favourite apps, but this permission request prevented me from doing it, just fyi. I will look into other apps. Privacy first.

Ciao

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I was about installing the app on my phone as it is one of my favourite apps, but this permission request prevented me from doing it, just fyi. I will look into other apps. Privacy first.

Ciao

You mean, you're going to install a closed source application, for privacy reasons? This is funny...

You know you have the full source of VLC, right? riiite?

[meagain]

I didn't ment proprietary software, you said "closed source"
I ment that i would look to see if there are other similar projects, but it seems that your mentioning proprietary software derives from your knowledge of F-droid repo (better than mine so) and if this is what you ment, well you're right.
Btw i already installed it

Ciao