Whatsapp permissions

**berrylover22** · 11-20-2012, 11:13 AM

Hy everyone,

Why Dow Whatsapp ask for do many permissions, is it safe to give then all? (Otherwise it doesn't work) I don't want to mess up with my other stuff in the phone.

Cheers!

**berrylover22** · 11-20-2012, 11:17 AM

Also I got a message that I can't delete, saying something about Whatsapp internal use. Someone knows what is this all about?

**Phill_UK** · 11-20-2012, 11:26 AM

Most apps will request permissions, and some are more intrusive than others. If you trust the dev, just accept them... otherwise the app won't work.

**cevag** · 11-20-2012, 12:29 PM

I don't care for whatsapp too much for those reasons, it just gets in all my contacts, some of my facebook contacts which I rarely speak with, I just don't need certain people knowing last time I was seen here and there. I just don't like how intrusive it gets.

**rog518za** · 11-20-2012, 12:37 PM

The most used I'm app, is still I'm sorry to say, behind bbm on options. When it expires those not on bbm can send a good old sms! Oh. And pay for it. Mxm. Every update it's looking more and more like bbm!!! BB needs to sue!

**berrylover22** · 11-21-2012, 02:33 PM

Yeah, the point is that iPhone users haven't got bbm if you wanna talk to them!
In any case I just guess that Whatsapp should be fine as it is a very popular app!!

How about the message? Does someone know how to delete it?

**BBMINI** · 11-21-2012, 02:40 PM

@ OP and any others interested, FYI -- you might want to search online for "WhatsApp least secure" or "WhatsApp security". I just recently read how it's the least secure chat app available and uploads your entire contact book to their servers (that's not that big of a surprise since they need to search your contacts in order to automatically find your peeps who are already WhatsApp users, but I'm not especially fond of their then having all my contacts in their database). That's in addition to other reported security breaches they've had previously.

You might also search for some very recent CB forum threads about BB users not being able to remove WhatsApp without the process somehow also deleting all of their contacts from their phone. Not sure what's going on there, but it would certainly be a concern.

So my personal perspective on the OP's question is, "No, it's not safe to give them all the permissions they ask for".

**BBMINI** · 11-21-2012, 02:57 PM

Here's the forum I mentioned about WhatsApp contact problems:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...roblem-740199/

**berrylover22** · 11-24-2012, 10:20 AM

Originally Posted by BBMINI

@ OP and any others interested, FYI -- you might want to search online for "WhatsApp least secure" or "WhatsApp security". I just recently read how it's the least secure chat app available and uploads your entire contact book to their servers (that's not that big of a surprise since they need to search your contacts in order to automatically find your peeps who are already WhatsApp users, but I'm not especially fond of their then having all my contacts in their database). That's in addition to other reported security breaches they've had previously.

You might also search for some very recent CB forum threads about BB users not being able to remove WhatsApp without the process somehow also deleting all of their contacts from their phone. Not sure what's going on there, but it would certainly be a concern.

So my personal perspective on the OP's question is, "No, it's not safe to give them all the permissions they ask for".

Thank you for this, the problem is that I do use it a lot and without all the permissions doesn't work!

**dkonigsberg_wa** · 11-27-2012, 12:45 PM

Here is an older post of mine, where I try to explain some of the permissions we request:
http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...2/#post7615522

Permissions in general are one of those difficult areas of platform/developer/user communication. Many of them have scary sounding names, but are actually not scary at all once you know exactly what they're needed for. To many some of them less scary, you would likely have to also make the permissions list 10x more complicated (or 10x simpler and thus meaningless). Or you would have to prompt the user before doing a surprising number of frequent operations. Either of these could severely impact usability for the average user.

The problem is that "App X needs permission Y" might make you hesitant. However, "App X needs permission Y to do A, B, C with parameter Q, but never D, E, or F" is far more difficult to communicate or enforce. Even if D and F, and C with parameters other than Q are the only things you'd actually be concerned about. I hope that makes sense.

**BBMINI** · 12-03-2012, 03:11 PM

@ berrylover22 and any others interested -- in case you didn't see this in today's News & Rumors section, an interesting development to consider with the granting of permissions:
[Rumor] Facebook looking to buy Whatsapp

**iamq** · 12-04-2012, 12:59 PM

oh good god. If facebook get there hands on it then I'll be smashing my phone removing all my contacts and getting all my users to do the same thing. We would then block whatsapp at every level we could across our networks!

FB are a big enough problem with a website - they don't need access to mobile services as well (Unless you want them to take over you life, sleep with your partner, and kill you pets) While uploading all your details to there servers which in turn then get seeded by google and any app dev that makes a game or some other interacting app which uses your facebook.