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Comment by babuskov | Hacker News Reader

> flaslight app wants to read my SMS

I got so frustrated with flashlight apps asking for Internet access to show ads and getting stuck when there is no Internet (typically the same time when I need a flashlight) that I wrote one and made it completely permission free:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bigosaur.l...

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I'll also note the TeslaLED app as another good one - it requires camera permissions to control the LED, plus screen drawing and sleep control - I suspect around the minimum that would be needed for a flashlight app.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoils...

This is what I've always used. LampA doesn't work on my Galaxy Nexus. I was hoping it would start up quicker because my biggest peeve with Tesla is that it takes time not only to open the app but there is a hundreds of ms delay in turning on the LED. I assume the complexities causing this are also what prevent LampA from working.

here's the one referenced in the Fox inerview from Snoopwall. They seem legit. http://www.snoopwall.com/flashlight-apps-spying-revealed/

also http://resources.infosecinstitute.com/android-app-permission...

Beautiful in its simplicity. It Just Works. Tested on S4.

Sharing with friends ;).

because using system flashlight app is too edgy, huh? Why you need extra app for thing you have just build in Android ? Check your widgets for "Assistive light". Problem solved.

Becase that thing is built-in in Android since 4.2, which is fairly recent. People needed flashlight apps even two years ago.

hey, this looks great, but it's not actually working on either on either of my nexus 5s, is that a known issue? There's no crash or anything, the flashlight just doesn't actually turn on.

Apparently there are two APIs available for this. Unfortunatelly, none of the devices I have at hand use the other API so I cannot test. :(

If you want, I can send you the source code to try to modify it. Just e-mail me.

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