Google Android App Permissions
When you install Hitch App on your Android phone as a rider, you’re shown a list of permissions that the app requests. The descriptions of these permissions are created by Google and are worded the same for every app — currently, there’s no way for Hitch App to customize them. So, to make sure you understand what features we access and what data we actually collect, we’ve provided a more detailed breakdown and discussion of the permissions below. Click on any of the permissions and you’ll be linked to Google’s official documentation for that permission. (If you’re an iOS user, please see our iOS App Permissions.)
IDENTITY
– find accounts on the device
– add or remove accounts
– read your own contact card
These permissions allow Hitch App to prepopulate your email address, first name, last name and phone number from your contact card during registration.
CONTACTS
– read your contacts
When you use Split Fare, Hitch App sends the mobile numbers of the friends you select to its servers so those people can be notified. Hitch App will never use that information to contact your friends without your consent. This permission is also used to prepopulate your first name, last name, profile image, and mobile number during registration. You can then edit these fields, and the updated values are sent to Hitch App when you create your account.
LOCATION
– approximate location (network-based)
precise location (GPS- and network-based)
The app does not store your location to persistent memory on the device, but does collect and send approximate and precise location data to Hitch App’s servers to personalize your experience; to display trip history in your receipts; to facilitate driver selection and pickup; to determine what products, promotions, and surveys are relevant to you; to use for analytics purposes at an aggregated level; and to customize and improve the location-based services we provide.
SMS
– receive text messages (SMS)
When you sign up for Hitch App, we send a 4-digit verification code, via SMS, to the mobile number that you provided. The “Receive SMS” permission allows the app to look for that incoming SMS message and automatically verify that we have your correct mobile number. The window of time during which the app looks for that incoming SMS is limited to 60 minutes. Hitch App only uses this permission to search for the verification message that we send. We do not send to our servers or save the content of any messages other than the verification message.
PHONE
– directly calls phone numbers
The app requests access to make phone calls so you can contact your driver/passenger from the Hitch App app if needed.
PHOTOS/MEDIA/FILES
– read the contents of your USB storage
– modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
The mapping libraries in the app use these permissions to allow map data to be saved to your phone’s external storage, like SD cards. By saving map data locally, your phone doesn’t need to re-download the same map data every time you use the app.
CAMERA
– take pictures and videos
We need access to the camera feature to let you use your phone’s camera to change your profile picture in the application.
WI-FI CONNECTION INFORMATION
– view Wi-Fi connections
Hitch App’s mapping libraries use this permission to see if a Wi-Fi connection is available. Determining whether Wi-Fi is available helps optimize the data used to display these maps.
DEVICE ID & CALL INFORMATION
– read phone status and identity
This permission is used in conjunction with your own contact information to prepopulate your mobile number and country during registration. You can edit these fields, and the updated values are sent to Hitch App once your account is created. This permission is also used to obtain your Android device ID, which is sent to Hitch App’s servers and used in fraud prevention efforts.
OTHER
– use accounts on the device
This permission generates Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) tokens associated with a user’s account. As with all GCM implementations, the token is sent to Hitch App’s servers so that notifications can be sent to you.
– read Google service configuration**
This permission is required by Google Play Services — which provides core Google API functionality to Android applications — to allow your app to make use of Google web-based services (Google Maps API v2 in Hitch App’s case).
** Google doesn’t explicitly provide documentation for this permission, but the above link will refer you to the relevant documentation around using the Google Maps Android API.
– modify system settings
Hitch App’s mapping libraries use this permission to optimize the data used to display their maps.
– full network access
This permission is required to access the internet, including communicating with Hitch App’s servers, connecting with third-party services, and downloading map data.
– control vibration
This permission allows the Hitch App app to vibrate your phone when something important happens, e.g ted 스크립트. when you receive a notification that your driver has arrived.
– prevent device from sleeping
This permission wakes your phone up when a notification is received.
– use network connections
This permission is used by Hitch App to notify you when a network connection is unavailable.