Your Permission, please? Android permission requests explained

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), allows you to choose to automatically add friends from your address book, and sync contacts with the address book on your device
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	control vibration run at startup disable your screen lock draw over other Bluetooth devices send sticky broadcast prevent device from sleeping modify system settings	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	retrieve running apps	Enables Skype to send crash information to the product team to continue improving the product

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