Permissions

On Android, app permissions shall regulate access to resources and guarantee a certain form of „privacy”. Unfortunately, on-board utilities are a complete failure here – as they are either non-existing (up to Android 5/Lollipop), or much too low granular (Android 6 and up). A must-read on this topic is Das Android Berechtigungsmodell: Ein perfides Konstrukt by security expert Mike Kuketz (Googletranslated English variant here). So we have to substitute with 3^rd party utilities – to inspect what apps have access to (possible without root) as well as to regulate that access ourselves (usually requires root).

Permission Checker

2024-12-04

CRAM App Analyser (5@150) 7 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2017-11-28
Privacy Dashboard (4.6@3,854) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2021-09-02
aSpotCat - Permission Checker (4.3@1,661) Ǥ 8 4
Privacy Guard (4.3@206) Ǥ 6 1 LastUpdate: 2019-09-14
Permissions Watchdog (4.3@92) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2015-06-15 watches on-install (as Playstore/Android 6+ hide permissions now)
Permission Friendly Apps (4.2@2,292) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2015-04-20 Github; Kurztest 1/2018
Permission Check Plugin (4.1@3,681) 2 3 LastUpdate: 2016-10-26 Plugin for All-In-One Toolbox
Permission Pilot (4.1@360) 5 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github
App Permission Watcher (3.9@496) 0 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2013-12-05
PrivacyBreacher (3.8@38) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2020-10-15 Github; Vorstellung 5/2020; what information can be accessed without any permission required?
MyPermissions Privacy Cleaner (3.7@6,144) Ǥ 9 7 LastUpdate: 2019-04-07 alarms you as soon as an app accesses your private data (but not before)
Android Permissions (3.4@204) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2018-06-02 Github
App Permissions (3.2@979) 3 1 LastUpdate: 2020-07-20
Chairlock (0@0) 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2022-02-28
Permissions Manager (0@0) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2022-10-26 Github; warns about dangerous permissions given to installed apps

Permission Manager

AppOps FrontEnds

2024-11-28

These are front-ends for the built-in AppOps available with Android 4.3/4.4. Do not require root.

Permission Manager X (4.4@102; ~EUR 2.00) Ǥ 11 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; needs either root or ADB for full support
AppOpsX (4@245) 1 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2019-01-27 Github; requires root or ADB; Android 4.4 to 8.0
Revo Permission Analyzer (3.5@704) Ǥ 11 4
ADBungFu (0@0) 3 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ LastUpdate: 2022-01-21

Stand-Alone Permission Manager

2024-11-28

If not noted otherwise, these will require root.

XPrivacyLua (5@2) 1 / XPrivacyLua Pro (4.3@6) Ǥ 4 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; XDA; successor of XPrivacy / Pro XDA Thread
Permission Manager X (4.4@102; ~EUR 2.00) Ǥ 11 $Contains no trackers known to us \o/$ Github; needs either root or ADB for full support
App Ops - Permission manager (4.2@4,015) Ǥ 7 2 Android 5-7; root & non-root
XPrivacy (4@25) 6 LastUpdate: 2015-07-03 Tutorial; Vorstellung 5/2015 | 7/2015; XDA Thread; Schnelleinstieg; this is primarily a privacy manager, so only cares for privacy permissions (see FAQ); supports on-demand restricting and fake/null data; root & XPosed framework required: Android 4, 5 & 6
App Permission Manager (3.8@20,772) Ǥ 13 4
App Permission Manager Android (3.4@583) 5 15
App Permission & Tracker (2.3@233) Ǥ 8 2