I checked my Android app permissions and deleted 5 apps I thought I could trust

Most of us install apps without giving much thought to what permissions they request. A flashlight app that wants your location? A calculator that asks for contacts? It’s easy to dismiss these as harmless oversights, but over time those permissions add up. Last weekend I decided to do a proper audit of the apps on my Android phone. What I found was more revealing than I expected, and I ended up deleting five apps I had been using for months.

What happened: A weekend permission audit

I started by opening the Permission manager on my phone (running Android 14). On most recent Android versions, you can find it under Settings > Privacy > Permission manager. This screen lists every permission type—camera, microphone, location, contacts, and so on—and shows which apps have access. I went through each category, one by one.

The first thing that stood out was how many apps had permissions that didn’t match their core function. A QR scanner app I had used for years had access to my location in the background. A weather widget wanted to read my contacts. Several free games requested access to the camera and microphone, though they didn’t use them for anything obvious.

I checked each app’s justification for the permission. Android usually gives a short reason when you tap on the permission entry. Some apps explained it clearly—for example, a map app needs location—but many didn’t. In a few cases, the permission was labeled “used for analytics” or “for personalization,” which is vague at best.

After cross-referencing with app store descriptions and a quick online search for any known privacy issues, I made a list of apps that requested permissions they had no real need for. I then tested whether revoking those permissions broke the app’s core functionality. In most cases, it didn’t.

Here are the five apps I ultimately removed and why:

  1. A flashlight app – It requested fine location (GPS) and camera. When I revoked location, the flashlight still worked. There was no reason for it to know where I was.
  2. A free weather app – It asked for contacts and SMS permissions. The weather forecast worked perfectly fine without them. The developer’s privacy policy mentioned “improving user experience,” which is not a clear justification.
  3. A habit tracker – It insisted on access to my call log. The app’s support page said this was for “blocking distractions,” but I could achieve the same effect with Android’s built-in Do Not Disturb mode.
  4. A QR scanner – It needed background location access. When I denied it, scanning still worked. The only potential use was for location-based ad targeting.
  5. A popular puzzle game – It asked for microphone access. The game had no voice features. When I revoked it, the game ran normally. This is a common pattern in free games that use permissions to gather data for advertising.

Why it matters

App permissions are one of the main ways your personal data can leak to third parties. A 2023 study by the FTC found that many Android apps collect more data than users realize, with location, contacts, and device identifiers being the most common overreaches. Even if an app is from a well-known developer, permissions can change after an update, or the app may be bought by a company with different data practices.

The risk isn’t hypothetical. Malicious apps can abuse permissions to track your movements, read your texts, or turn on your camera without your knowledge. More commonly, legitimate apps simply sell the data they collect to advertising networks. Either way, you lose control over your information.

The good news is that Android gives you the tools to stop this. The permission manager has been steadily improved since Android 10, and you can now grant permissions “only while using the app” or be reminded to review them periodically.

What you can do

You don’t need to spend an entire weekend on this. A thorough check takes about 20 minutes. Here’s a step-by-step approach:

  1. Open Settings > Privacy > Permission manager. (On older Android versions, it may be in Settings > Apps > Permissions.)
  2. Tap each permission type (e.g., Location, Camera, Microphone) and see which apps have access. Look for the “Allow all the time” or “Allow in background” entries—those are the riskiest.
  3. For each app with an unexpected permission, tap the entry and read the app’s explanation. If it doesn’t make sense, revoke the permission. You can always re-enable it later if the app stops working.
  4. If you’re unsure, deny the permission temporarily and use the app for a few days. Most features still work.
  5. For apps where revoking permissions breaks core functionality, consider whether you really need that app. There are often privacy-friendly alternatives (e.g., use a stock flashlight app instead of a third-party one).
  6. Set a reminder to review permissions every few months. Android may also prompt you to review unused apps that have special permissions.

I replaced the five deleted apps with simpler alternatives. The stock flashlight app built into Android works fine. For weather, I switched to a website bookmark instead of an app. For QR scanning, Google Lens does the job without extra permissions. The habit tracker and puzzle game were easy to let go of.

Sources

  • Android Police, “I spent a weekend reviewing Android app permissions and deleted 5 apps I thought I could trust,” June 12, 2026.
  • FTC study on mobile app data collection (2023) – reference available via ftc.gov.
  • Google’s Android Permissions documentation: developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/overview.

This isn’t about paranoia. It’s about noticing when an app asks for more than it really needs. A quick audit now can prevent months or years of unnecessary data collection. And you might be surprised how few of those permissions are actually essential.