Lichi app and permissions

[whiskeylover]

I recently purchased and installed the Lichi app for Android. I am a little confused about the permissions it requested.
I can understand permissions for these objects as these are pretty self-explanatory.

• Camera
  
• Location
  
• Microphone
• Storage

But why in the name of **** does it need access to these

• Phone and
• Contacts?

Denying these permissions makes the app complain, saying "These permissions are required for the app to function." And it refuses to start until those permissions are granted. Can someone explain why?

 

[Mossiback]

I don't know why it needs access. I looked at the Go 4 app and saw that it also had access to the phone and contacts so I turned those off. I started it up and everything looks normal. Go 4 did not complain about the change. It is dark now so I can't confirm functionality but I will post the results as soon as I do.

Edit: Go 4 works with access turned off.

 

[OzoneVibe]

The joys of using with a spare phone using a spare Google account with no contacts and no SIM.

 

[whiskeylover]

I know Lichi App staff is on these forums. Can one of you please respond?

 

[ScottishAngler]

ummmm..... no response from anyone at Litchi.... I WAS thinking of buying their product but if they cant explain why they would want all my contact list then I suspect something is wrong. I guess there are similar apps out there.

 

[whiskeylover]

Yeah, I've been waiting for their response forever, and I suspect it's never coming. They've been active in other threads though.

 

[CynicalZombie]

Just an FYI, I have an iPhone X and I checked the privacy settings and Litchi never asked for contact permissions.

 

[dvarapala]

When I first installed Litchi I had the same question so I searched and found an explanation: apparently these permissions are actually required by the DJI API library, not the Litchi app itself. The DJI lib reportedly wants access to a unique identifier for your device (an IMEI perhaps?) and apparently those permissions are required to access it.

The Litchi people could definitely do a better job of explaining this.

 

[whiskeylover]

The Litchi people could definitely do a better job of explaining this.

^ This

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

The joys of using with a spare phone using a spare Google account with no contacts and no SIM.

^^^ THIS

Let it grab all contacts, all notes, everything... which is nothing.

 

[whiskeylover]

But that's not ideal for most of us. I don't have a spare phone lying around. I shouldn't have to pay 25 bucks for an app that also forces me to use a separate phone.