Clean up unused Android permissions

Question

If I wanted to research how and where permissions [requested in the Mainfest.xml] were used in an Android app for the purposes of removing them is there an easy way of doing this? Does lint or findbugs offer some sort of support for tracking permissions used/abused in a project?

Answer 1

I came from the future to save your lives.

Here (in the future), LINT does check for missing permissions as you can see on LINT checks.

• So, go to your AndroidManifest.xml and remove all tags <uses-permission> using Android permissions (meaning, don't delete permissions that belong to your app, such as UA_DATA and C2D_MESSAGE).
• Then run LINT analysis. Click on Analyze then Inspect Code...
• Look under Android -> Constant and Resource Type Mismatches
• You should see all missing permissions.
• Then you can just right-click them and select Apply fix "Add Permission". If you select this option, Android Studio will include one permission for every error. So you'll end up with multiple copies of the same permission on your Manifest file, just delete the duplicates. You can do it manually too.

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Here is the description of the LINT rule:

 ID ResourceType

 Description

This inspection looks at Android API calls that have been annotated with various support annotations (such as RequiresPermission or UiThread) and flags any calls that are not using the API correctly as specified by the annotations. Examples of errors flagged by this inspection:

• Passing the wrong type of resource integer (such as R.string) to an API that expects a different type (such as R.dimen).
• Forgetting to invoke the overridden method (via super) in methods that require it
• Calling a method that requires a permission without having declared that permission in the manifest
• Passing a resource color reference to a method which expects an RGB integer value.

...and many more. For more information, see the documentation at http://developer.android.com/tools/debugging/annotations.html

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I'm using Android Studio 2.1.2.

Answer 2

In your app manifest file you should have a tab "Merged Manifest" there you can see your final manifest and the permissions you request you can click on a permission to see where it came from. (who added it - ex': sdk or what code it came from)

There is also a simple way to remove a permission by adding to manifest:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" 
tools:node="remove" />

Also remember to add the tools at the top:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    package="...">

Answer 3

The way I would do it for an app for which I didn't write the code would be to remove the permissions one by one and test the app end-to-end each time. When it fails, narrow it down. If not, that permission may not be used.

Answer 4

You will have to try removing them one by one and checking i fthe app still works OK. This is not checked by lint in any way (it should be).

When they come back (they are currently down), you can upload your apk to this website (if that's ok with you) and let them statically analyse the permissions you are using: http://www.android-permissions.org/

Answer 5

Best way is to understand what the may actually do. If it is ever going to use the camera then you know you need the camera permission.

Answer 6

Or you could just learn what your app does and then go through the permissions and see which ones are extra. What does your app do, what phone features does it use. There should be some documentation somewhere on what it should do and what methods are in there