App Permissions: "download files without notification"
Hi everyone. I hope you're doing well.
So, I've been thinking about downloading the Firefox browser for Android but I am worried.
I saw this among the app permissions on Google Play Store: "download files without notification". And I am worried.
And I need to know:
- What files does Firefox download without notification?
- Why does Firefox download files without notification?
- When does Firefox download files without notification?
- Why and how should I trust an app to the have the ability to download anything it desires at anytime it desires without my knowledge or my choice to accept or decline?
Could you please help me and tell how this app is safe?
Thanks. Have a good day!
Chosen solution
Firefox can't download anything without a notification.
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This permission is use to download files with the default Android downloader without showing a notification and it's used in companion with VISIBILITY_HIDDEN flag but we are not using this downloader anymore in the code. At some point in the future this permission will be removed.
Thank you for your reply.
I need to check my understanding.
Does this mean that when I'm using the Firefox web browser and for example, I'm on a website for graphics and photos and I'm downloading a new background for my phone, then "ONLY" "WHEN" "I" press/touch the download button it's not going to show "download in progress" or "download completed" in the notification area?
ONLY WHEN I press/touch the download button it's not going to show a notification for progress and completion, and THERE'S NO OTHER WAY the Firefox browser is going to "download files without notification" UNLESS I knowingly choose to press/touch the download button when I want to download a file?
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Chosen Solution
Firefox can't download anything without a notification.
Thank you.
Just to get a chance at your first reply, what it meant is:
To execute the download function, Firefox is going to communicate with an existing app on my phone; "my default Android downloader", and delegate the download task to it, but it's not going to bother me with these details and it won't show me a notification: "Firefox is using so and so app (my default Android downloader)". Is that it? Close enough?
And also, this method of download has been discontinued, so the app permission "download files without notification" is going to be removed soon. Is that right?
Yup. Sth like that.
😃 Thanks!