Recently I became aware that the default camera application in Samsung phones (I have S23 Ultra) requires the "Nearby Devices" permission in order to function in any capacity. You cannot even open the app without this permission granted.
I understand why this permission exists, but the majority of the time it is not needed. I cannot think of a single justifiable reason why this permission is a requirement for app functionality. It should at least allow permission options such as "ask every time", or ideally the option to completely deny that permission.
I no longer use the Samsung camera app because of this, and the existence of this feature actively makes me want to not use Samsung products.
This issue has definitely not been solved by any definition of the word. The error still exists, and no explanation of any sort has ever actually been given. The issue of "Allow Voicemail to find, connect to, and determine relative position of nearby devices" (also an issue with the camera at the very least, and probably others) been asked in hundreds of places, and marked as "I have the same question" by thousands, yet it has never been explained or corrected. "The app needs the permission to function in order to function is not an answer. That is circular and meaningless. "You don't have to use the feature" is also not an answer. That is irrelevant. It is perfectly acceptable to say you can't figure out how to untangle the code needed to make the Bluetooth work from the code needed to make, say, the voicemail and camera work. That's fine. If you say it, someone somewhere will probably help you no problem, and probably no questions asked. We need to know how to use the devices safely. What is nearby? Is it 10 metres? Is it 100 metres? Is it three miles? What is done with that information collected? Is the location and connectivity of the device recorded on my device? Is MY information being shared with the other unknown device? Is that data being sent somewhere else? What is that data being used for? Are either of the devices, or a third data base somewhere else storing that data? For how long? These are questions literally costing companies and consumers money. When I asked Verizon about this, they sent a new phone that now is also pestering me for my home address in order to send "emergency services" for "wi-fi calling", a feature I turned off already. That makes no sense either. What are the chances I'd call for emergency services and be home, but the phone doesn't work and somehow the wi-fi does work? We just want to know what we need to do to not participate in illegal activity, such as stealing other people's or company information, and not share our data for data brokers and criminals to use. That's it. The posts are never actually answered, and are always locked. The one I just shared is just one example of hundreds. So what's actually going on? How do we use these products safely for ourselves, our neighbours, and our work places? This seems to be across several devices and been going on at least since 2022. Direct technical support doesn't seem to grasp the concept, and employs either the circular explanation, the "Why did you buy it product" argument, or suggests repair, which just costs people money, since it's already known to be in the software, not the hardware. Someone somewhere can either help, or advice can be given if the question isn't simply shut down before giving them a chance to help.
Hello, Welcome to the Community. We appreciate your feedback and will tag it on the forum so that it will appear with other feedback. This will allow your post to be more easily found in the event that Samsung product groups are seeking outside feedback/requests regarding our products.
Both camera and voicemail apps can be controlled with voice commands. Most users that use voice commands do so when connected to Bluetooth headsets (hands-free) or devices such as Bluetooth controllers, especially when vlogging. Allowing this permission by default makes for a convenient experience for a wider customer base. Remember that some users are still in the "caveman" era when it comes to electronics.
I would have supported the optional instead of mandatory permission, too. Nearby device permission only works with paired Bluetooth/wireless devices anyway, so it's not the end of the world. It gives you the option to see what is available to connect to, but it will only auto connect/use paired devices that you're already connected to.
So, you want to use a thing but don't want to grant permission that the thing requires for it to work. Interesting. You realize you are not granting permission for other devices to get into your device but allowing your device to locate devices *you* own. Contrary to your statement, you really do not understand why the permission is required.
Incorrect. What we're looking for is reasoning for mandatory permissions for basic functions. Ekamek and the original poster for this example usermzeJaY3BsM gave pretty good reasoning for why the the permissions are useful, but I never doubted that. On own personal device and equipment we might use we can disable Bluetooth and disable the permissions. We just need to call Verizon to get our emails, and remember to turn the permissions back off after taking photos if we need to do that. That's an improvement over how things used to be done. We need to ensure, as managers, we and our employees, are in compliance with government, industry, and corporate regulations. This particular issue popped up because neither Samsung or Verizon seemed to be aware of the missing documentation, and Verizon in particular will send a brand new device at $1000 a pop when you ask how to safely use the device. So now it's costing money, and all anyone needs is to know how to safely use the device, not a new phone or repair. The devices work just fine. Not to mention all the time spent trying to find that documentation and the regulations that do exist. This isn't a complaint. It's a request for information. What I keep seeing are threads locked on the topic before information is actually given. Truth be told, my only complaint is having to return a perfectly good phone and having to set up a new one just because errors are popping up for features we can get around anyway. Tech is moving fast, but people can help if they are informed. Almost certainly that couple of lines of code can just be untangled and no one would ever know the difference. Someone has to know the work arounds and look at the code or at least the regulations though to prevent lost man hours and capital.
Why are you worried about your phone giving any peripheral you use permission to connect? You want to be ask every time you connect to the same peripheral permission to connect to that device. Code is written for the masses not an individuals wants.
I'm only worried about lost man hours and money from a lack of documentation. I'm frankly just tired of having to make up excuses for documentation that clearly doesn't exist. The devices clearly work as designed. No one would have ever noticed, and new rules would not have been implemented, if the functions weren't completely blocked. All I'd have to say is "turn Bluetooth off, and there is no risk of connecting to office devices." Work middle management. I can't imagine what it must be like working customer service for these companies. You'll see why this is starting to get old. This has nothing to do with me or even the devices. It has to do only with compliance and a hole in the knowledge base. At this point I have something. Won't make them happy, but it's something. Yes; people are still going to want to have the devices, and still going to want to use them without WiFi calling or Bluetooth. And they won't know why they aren't allowed to use the device in the office, nor will I be able to tell them.
Why are you not worried about your phone randomly connecting to different devices without your permission ( I mean technically it is with permission but that permission isn't optional to the customer, so in my opinion I would argue that it's very debatable whether that permission is actually permission or not) the all the time? You say that code is written for the masses not what an individual wants, but you completely disregard the fact that the masses are all individuals as well. Without multiple individuals there would be no masses of people. When you do something for everyone, you are doing something for a large amount of individuals. Each and every single one of those people matter. Every single one of them have worth and value, and their privacy and their security of their devices matter as well.
It was marked as solved because it is not an issue, and was solved before you opened your first request. This permission is required for use of several devices. For the camera, there are many devices that can be paired, from the S-pen that can be used to trigger the "shutter" to external, Bluetooth connected flash pods. The app just wants to be able to use these devices if they are connected.
Also completely missing your concept of "data being recorded" It simply wants to connect to your external devices, it is not going to log this or send it to google to get you to buy flash pods because the ones it found are old or something. I get digital security, but you are reading into this way to far. You also mention that this was with your S23, but managed to post it in the S24 forums...
While I am unsure why this option is a requirement, I do not see any reason why it cannot just be granted. It is not like some passer by will see your camera looking for an external shutter, and be able to use that as a back door into your device. The device HAS to be connected already before the camera is launched.
I disagree completely, it is absolutely an issue because it's just taking the liberty of making a decision on behalf of the customer without caring about what they actually want. There's a camera app in my phone, use the camera that is built into my phone, and it can work perfectly fine, for some reason that is completely irrelevant to me it wants to have the permanent permission enabled to always be connecting to nearby devices all the time? What if I don't want that? It doesn't care. That complete and total apathy of how that's designed is a major issue. Huge flaw.
You know I have to agree this is always bothered me. I don't know why some permissions are forced. The camera is a camera, it should just work because the camera is built into the phone. I have never needed to connect to a nearby device to take a picture with my own camera on my own phone. I feel extremely uncomfortable that it just wants to connect to random different things, how does it even know if I own anything else? It's none of my phones business what other devices I own. I should be able to permanently disable connecting to nearby devices from the camera app if I feel like it. It feels very forced and uncomfortable. It's something I will never use. I don't even like Bluetooth and always have it disabled. If I ever wanted to connect my phone to a device I would connect it with a cable.
