Privacy features in Touch (cyanogenmod)?

[Matt B.]

Let me tell you guys something I find really ANNOYING on iPhone:

I turn on Airplane mode, and then I go to use an App. I get prompts telling me Airplane mode is on (yes, I know Airplane mode is on). I'm getting these prompts because the App wants to use the internet. But it is an App that DOESN'T REALLY NEED INTERNET. The App makes use of internet for superfluous stuff that totally is not needed to fully run the App. An example from an App that I absolutely love: VLC. When I install VLC and start using it, it ASKS me if I would like VLC to download art/info from the internet regarding the music I'm listening to. This is good design! Apps can make use of internet, but they should NOT require internet nor force user to enable internet for their use. Obviously this doesn't apply to apps that are SOLELY location based or SOLELY dependent on the internet.

Hopefully Ubuntu-Touch will be more like VLC overall in terms of how it manages Apps' internet promiscuity. And hopefully Ubuntu-Touch will not annoyingly prompt user that Airplane mode is on when accessing apps.

Passing on my user-experiences so that Developers can hear my experiences. Maybe it can be of some help to make Ubuntu-touch great experience for users.

Thanks.

I found this forum post on MacRumors talking about user's annoyance with Airplane Mode and wanting to use Apps with it on. So I'm not the only one noticing this. I think the OS needs to implement more discipline with respect to Apps ability to connect willy-nilly to the internet.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1604335





Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 08:13:59 -0400
From: marc.deslauriers at canonical.com
To: ubuntu-devel-discuss at lists.ubuntu.com
Subject: Re: Privacy features in Touch (cyanogenmod)?

On 13-06-24 08:07 AM, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> J Fernyhough wrote on 22/06/13 16:06:
> 
>> On 22 June 2013 15:12, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt at canonical.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Ubuntu, an app will request a privilege during runtime. For 
>>> example, a game might have a "find my friends who already play
>>> this game" function, that accesses your contacts. The game would
>>> work just fine if you don't use this function. But if you do use
>>> it, Ubuntu would then -- and only then -- ask you if you want to
>>> grant the app access to your contacts.
>> ...
> 
>> This is excellent! One quick feature request: a "remember this
>> choice" checkbox. ;)
> 
> I don't understand. Why would Ubuntu forget the choice otherwise?
> 
 
Because granting a permission may depend on the context?
 
For example, I may want to allow a photo application to use my GPS to tag a
picture when I'm in some public place, but not when I take a picture when I'm at
home.
 
Granting a permission shouldn't mean I grant it forever, unless I decide it
should be forever...having both "Just this once" and "Always" buttons satisfies
my use case.
 
Marc.
 
 

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