Path: ...!npeer.as286.net!npeer-ng0.as286.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: VanguardLH Newsgroups: comp.mobile.android Subject: Re: ebook-reader permissions - no explanation given Date: Mon, 27 May 2024 19:34:02 -0500 Organization: Usenet Elder Lines: 82 Sender: V@nguard.LH Message-ID: <6k790kcgefmp$.dlg@v.nguard.lh> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net yX4KTLCC16BRFn+u7wdeWAEnEGrXRH8YickQq+M922d+bF7F2U Keywords: VanguardLH,VLH Cancel-Lock: sha1:pemBPt8dP4k1WMjEpZPuHWTqau4= sha256:bTx8YM7w0TsqYUz2gErRTutXNwcXZxltkWqXjpMKuCU= User-Agent: 40tude_Dialog/2.0.15.41 Bytes: 4651 "R.Wieser" wrote: > Hello all, > > I was looking for a simple(!) ebook reader, and found the below : > > https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.bookreader/ > > Ofcourse, I checked its permissions - which I now have questions about : > > "read the contents of your shared storage > Allows the app to read the contents of your shared storage." > > Allright, otherwise it can't read any EPUB files. > > "modify or delete the contents of your shared storage > Allows the app to write the contents of your shared storage." Didn't see Book Reader listed in their apps page at: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/ The page you gave just lists versions. Did not see any documentation on the app. Might it allow you to annotate or modify e-books which would require the write permission? As noted at: https://raider.pressbooks.pub/otnmodify/chapter/format-guide-epub-mobi/ An EPUF file is a ZIP file with nested folders with XHTML text, images, CSS, fonts, and metadata files. Even if Book Reader doesn't let you modify or change the text, replace images, replace fonts, etc, maybe it still lets you edit the metadata of the .epub file. It notes that Calibre, the e-book reader I remember using, can "Edit book". Without any documentation on that app, no one can determine just features it has other than perhaps another user of the same app. You could deny the access to see if the app still functions well enough. > "read phone status and identity > Allows the app to access the phone features of the device. This permission > allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call > is active, and the remote number connected by a call." > > I can make a couple of guesses to why it would need this, but that doesn't > help me in the slightest. Does any one have a (non-guessed) idea to why I > should allow this ? Looks like something you have to ask the app author. They don't provide documentation, so every permission they want is a guess by the user. Or get someone to look at the code in the APK to see why it wants those permissions. The web site has no information to identify the app author. Unless the APK has doc files inside with contact info on the author, and assuming the author is responsive or those contacts are still valid, I don't see how you'll find the app author to get a hell of a lot more info on his app. If I started hunting around for an e-book reader to use with Android, I'd probably start with Calibre. Besides any help they have at their web site, there are probably a hell of a lot more Calibre users around to ask for help than those using the app you mentioned. Alas, there is no native Android app for Calibre. You have to use ADB and a USB cable to read an e-book on your desktop, so it's a kludge to use Calibre with Android. I've heard of ReadEra, FBreader and Librera, but never used them. I've only need to read e-books on my desktop. Reading on a smartphone screen for something as large as a "book" would overly strain my old eye, and have be constantly zooming in and out. Smartphone display really don't substitute for desktop monitors. > I did find some other ebook readers, but as those wanted a*lot* of > permissions (including network, so the app builder could gather > "statistical data" - his words, not mine) I discarded them on sight. Some e-book readers let you specify a URL from where to get the EPUB, or other format, e-book file, so I can see those requiring network access. For example, my public library has e-books that I can read locally, but they are retrieved from their server which also manages how long I can check-out the e-book from them (they have to share a limited number of licenses amongst all their patrons).