Too much permissions?

I´m planning to use Adience, instead of just only admob in order to improve my eCPM, but it needs way more permissions than I already have. My fear is that my app feels too scammy with it.

Has anyone upgraded their app with a lot of new permissions and has encountered any negative effect when it comes to downloads/installs/ratings?

For me, you always get a negative effect with ratings when you add permissions you cannot explain with features in your app.
(Excepting Internet access which is well understood)

When I choose a new ad network, I take care of the needed permissions and don’t choose it if there are too much of them

Howerver, this is dependant of your app style, but in this case, bad ratings WILL come and you MAY get better revenue.
You should be sure it’s worth it

Negative effects from too much permissions is not much, and depends on nature of your app. Look at Facebook app’s permissions list.

Well… you cannot compare with Facebook app :
Facebook app is used despite of the permissions.
Another app will just not be used.

But as said, It depends on your app. If it’s a must have or you already get a good user base, you can deal with permissions

Hi Craveo!
I agree with you, adding app permissions is a difficult choice with pros and cons. I’d only point out that Adience only requires the Internet permission, the rest are recommended but not a must (see here). Maybe that solves your problem…

What are the pros of adding permissions???

I’m talking in general. There are pros if adding permissions allows you to add new functionality to your app (or improves your monetization).

Thank you all. @Sasha If I don´t use some of those permissions, do the mediation adapters work in a restricted way or don´t they work at all afterwards?

I at least want to avoid permissions like WAKE_LOCK, BROWSER_HISTORY and such dubious things, which are sadly recommended by Adience

@Craveo BROWSER_HISTORY is not recommended or used by Adience.
The mediation adapters work fully in any case, AFAIK.

@Craveo the only required permissions should really be INTERNET and NETWORK_STATE. Any location permissions would be highly recommended as they help improve ad relevance and can translate to a noticeable eCPM uplift when sending over such info.

A quick glance at the required/recommended permission requirements from various mobile ad networks:
table_Android_permissions-1024x767.jpg
(correct as of April 2014, source)

Thank you, very informative table. Really helps me with my decision

A lot of ad networks want to get location for ad targeting

And more and more want device ID for retargeting purposes