ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (WHAT THE TECH?) — Smartphones and apps have become a major part of our daily lives but we may be giving them more permissions than we realize.

Most of us don’t pay a lot of attention to “app permissions”. We just download and install. You may want to check those permissions out.

It’s in settings. On an iPhone, it’s under Privacy. On an Android, it’s under Security and Privacy and
then under Permission Manager.

If you’re on an Android, you’ll see how many apps have permissions to use everything from body sensors to text messages. Look under Contacts to see which apps can access your contacts. If you see one that doesn’t require your list of contacts, tap it, and remove access.

On iPhone, we’ll look at which apps have permission to your camera and photos. You’ll see one that surprises you I’m sure. Does Amazon, Walmart, and my drug store need access to my camera? Probably not. So turn them off.

Mine is locked down pretty tight but I still found a few that don’t require access to my photos,
my camera, or my microphone. Of course, some apps do require access to photos and camera,
if you share photos with it, like Instagram, Facebook, or Messenger.

It’s especially important if you have any free gaming apps on your phone. Double check those. If they have access to something you don’t want them to have, delete the app or change the setting to ‘only while using.’

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