android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE why is this needed for push?

[nickk...@gmail.com]

Some customers are complaining about the app requesting permission to read their phone calls, which obviously is in excess of what is actually needed. I've seen that there is an old discussion on the Android bug tracker about making READ_PHONE_STATE more fine grained to prevent this, but its not implemented.

There are apps that do push (and media) that don't request this permission and its a significant and concerning block of permissions to request if not totally needed.

I've seen an explanation that its needed to mute audio when there is an incoming call, but this doesn't seem to be the case there is this option:

https://developer.android.com/training/managing-audio/audio-focus.html

Why does including push also trigger this permission? - I believe you can get the push registration key in other ways. 

Also the reminder about the permission is shown before the the theme is loaded which makes it a mess if users decline it and this popup is shown, and it triggered before I register for push so I don't have the option to manage this at an appropriate place in the app flow, e.g., after you've logged in.

Having the first thing the app does is ask (twice) to make and read phone calls isn't very friendly!

[Shai Almog]

This is something we just removed in the last release. It shouldn't be needed anymore.