I just installed the app and browsed the tutorial notes and i got a request for location permission out of nowhere, after i denied the first one, immediately another one.
Only after denying twice i get to read that the permission is needed for a feature to associate locations with the notes.
Personally i would think it wouod look much less like spyware if there was a dialog mentioning something along the lines of:
"this app can store your location together with your notes.
Do you wish to do that?"
With yes/no buttons and only ask for the pernissions once you actually click yes.
While the app seems pretty neat, this behavior makes it seem to be the opposite of what it claims to be at least for people who literally just discovered the app
That location prompt likely comes from Android itself, not Joplin, so it cannot be modified by the application. What some other apps often do though is to first show an explanation why location is needed, and then there is a button that displays a location permission prompt only after pressing it.
For the record, location isnât required only for notes, it is also needed if you want to sync on Wi-Fi only (as Android cannot determine if youâre connected to Wi-Fi without the location permission).
I have to say, the default setting for storing location data when creating a note is questionable. Iâve been using Joplin for over 2 years and only just realised the other day that this feature is enabled by default.
I donât use note sharing, but if I did, or if I exported a note with Markdown and FrontMatter and shared it somewhere else, I would not want people to be able to see where I created a note, and Iâd probably forget that I may be sharing this data. When I checked the location data on some of my existing notes, the co-ordinates pointed to my exact home address, not just a rough location.
The prompt comes from android but is triggered by joplin asking the system for location, that's literally been a thing since android 6, as there the idea of asking for a pernission only if needed started.
And triggering a permission prompt for something that does not seem to make sense for a user, especially with a permission like location, does not exactly look good.
And ideally permission prompts for optional things should come with a prompt from the app to just say no before the prompt even appears.
About the sync only on wifi. I would need to read on this as i am not sure. While i know that you need location to get some details about the wifi. I would have think just the info is on wifi (or more specifically an âunmeteredâ connection) is something apps should be something that shouldn't need location as you can't infer location solely fron the true or false about being on an unmetered network.