Storage and Contact scopes - Why?

Lizard

What are the main principles and benefits are behind using the Storage and Contact Scopes features?
I've read the info on the #features page, but I'm still unsure on what the point is, and the benefits of using them.

Thanks

DeletedUser29

It lets you specify exactly what contact/file/folder you want to share with an app instead of giving access to all or none.

The benefit of this is that say you want to share a photo with someone through Discord. With Storage Scopes you only give Discord access to that one photo (or folder) instead of all your photos.

Lizard

DeletedUser29 It lets you specify exactly what contact/file/folder you want to share with an app instead of giving access to all or none.

This sums it up perfectly thanks.

So am I right in saying that when you first enable them, no access is granted to anything until you specifically choose a contact / file / folder that you want the app to have access to?

What about if you want to save a new contact / file from a given app that has scopes enabled, will this be possible if the app does not have full access?

Dumdum

DeletedUser29 The benefit of this is that say you want to share a photo with someone through Discord. With Storage Scopes you only give Discord access to that one photo (or folder) instead of all your photos.

This isn't necessary. You can share files just using the regular File Picker/ Share function. Its pretty rare for apps to actually need storage permissions. Out of all 50+ apps on my phone, the only apps that have been given any permissions are apps where continual/free access is required or makes sense, such as file manager, gallery and music apps. The rest all just have Storage Scopes enabled in a blank state or they simply don't request permissions at all (only 15-17 apps on my phone actually do).

DeletedUser29

(Second separate comment because I edit too slowly)

And same thing with Contacts when using apps using phone numbers and that want/need access to your contacts. Which if granted, gives the app all your contacts and might alert your contacts that also use the app that you're on it as well. And you might not want that, so using Contact Scopes stops that from happening.

Although I'm not sure how well it protects against the alert-contacts-on-app thing. I imagine an app can still do that regardless if another user have you in their contacts and gives full access. But that's specualtion on my part.

But anyway, did I manage to make it a bit clearer for you?

Vagabond8630

Lizard

So am I right in saying that when you first enable them, no access is granted to anything until you specifically choose a contact / file / folder that you want the app to have access to?

That seems to be the case. I have some apps that ask for access to files as a requirement to function, but I don't want/need to give that app so much access to my data.

In cases where I need the app to pass the requirement but I don't want to give any data to the app, I just turn on contact/storage scope and don't actually add any file/directory. The app thinks it has the permissions and passes the requirement, but in actuality, it doesn't have any access to anything.

In others where I want the app to access only specific files/directories, I turn on contact/storage scope and add only the file/directory I want to give access to. An example is OneDrive that I use for cloud-based photo sync, and it only has access to internal/DCIM and internal/Pictures/Screenshots folders and nothing else.

DeletedUser29

Dumdum Yes that is true, thanks for the correction.

So to clarify, I meant when an app requests access to storage, Storage Scopes allows you to give access only to the file/folder you want share instead of all the shared folders the app would otherwise get access to.

Correct yes? Or am I making a fool of myself?

Carlos-Anso

DeletedUser29
Correct.
Same if you use storage scopes for any app that asks for music and audio and/or photos and videos permissions