When I want to use the smartthings app, it wants the permission to access my phone contacts. If I deny, the app exits. Since I have tested many home automation apps, I know that there is no technical reason for accessing the phone book and I don’t give that permission.
Is there a way to get around this?
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No, there isn’t. SmartThings Samsung Connect (new or v3 app) is a replacement of a dozen other apps from Samsung, some requires permission to contacts.
There is another topic where it was explained.
I also found this intrusive and unnecessary for an automation app. If you want your privacy the only solution is stick to the classic app! The SmartThings classic app is designed solely for the automation of the hub. The new app, v3 app, Connect app is trying to be an everything app because a Samsung executive thought it would be easy to homogenise the Samsung experience and get all their users (i.e. data) in one place.
I accidentally found myself looking at the forum in Category mode and this fooled me into responding to a 7 month old post. I think this has, in turn, prompted others to respond. Sorry about that.
My withdrawn comment was suggesting that, as the Contacts Permission in Android also seems to cover access to the Accounts on the device, the permission may have been needed for the app to discover the Samsung account. Which may or may not be a comment that was better left deleted.
It’s still an inappropriate permission request. Other apps use Contacts to immediately harvest all your contacts and send them to the mothership.
One of many reasons I jumped to Hubitat.