You're ready to install Skype and start chatting when suddenly you’re asked to give your permission to a whole list of things. This might seem a bit troubling, after all it’s not easy to understand exactly what you’re giving permission for. Skype is designed to take full advantage of the hardware and software on your Android device. When you’re asked for permission to access your precise location, it’s only in case you ever want to share your location with one of your Skype contacts. Here’s a list of all the Android permissions and what they mean to you:
| Permission Category | Permission | Use |
| Identity, Contacts | - read your own contact card
- add or remove accounts
- find accounts on the device
- read your contacts
- modify your contacts
- use accounts on the device
- read sync statistics
- read sync settings
- toggle sync on and off
- create accounts and set passwords
| Enables Skype to manage Skype accounts in Android’s centralized account management system (Settings > Accounts) |
| Location | - precise location (GPS and network-based)
- approximate location (network-based)
| Enables users to share their location with Skype contacts |
| SMS | - read your text messages (SMS or MMS)
- receive text messages (SMS)
| Enables Skype to automatically verify your phone number by sending an SMS verification code and automatically reading the code from the SMS |
| Phone | - Directly call phone numbers
- Read phone status identity
| Enables users to access core Skype functionality including making audio calls to traditional phone numbers (PSTN) |
| Photos/Media/Files, Storage | - modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
- read the contents of your USB storage
| Enables users to send files from their device to Skype contacts |
| Camera, Microphone, Other | - take pictures and videos
- record audio
- change your audio settings
| Enables users to send video messages, make video calls, and make audio calls |
| Wi-Fi connection information | - view Wi-Fi connections
- connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi
- view network connections
- full network access
- receive data from the internet
| Enables Skype to optimize its behavior depending on its connection type to reduce mobile data charges users may incur and to improve device battery life |
| Other | | Enables users to access additional features including use with a Bluetooth device, displaying a picture-in-picture window when the Skype app is moved to the background during an ongoing video call, running at startup to reduce missed calls, ensuring the device stays awake during calls, and more. |
| Device & app history | | Enables Skype to send crash information to the product team to continue improving the product |
