Every permission, explained

Alert24 uses the front camera for one thing: a photo of whoever is holding the phone when something suspicious happens. That means a wrong PIN on the alarm screen or the app lock, a wrong screen unlock when the device intruder alert is on, every unlock when Phone Access Snap is on, and a remote Take Picture or Lost mode capture. See the intruder selfie feature.

Photos are taken without a flash or shutter sound and saved in the app's private storage on the phone. When you are signed in with Google, intruder photos are backed up to your account so you can see them from another device. Phone Access Snap images are never uploaded. Delete a photo in the app and the backup copy is removed too.

If you refuse the camera, every alarm still works. You simply get no photos.

Android tells an app about failed screen unlocks only if that app is a device administrator. Alert24 asks for this when you switch on the device intruder alert under Intruders Pictures, or when you open Phone Access Snap. Android shows its own consent screen listing what the app can do.

Alert24 uses this access to be notified of unlock attempts, nothing more. It does not lock, wipe or change your phone remotely, and Alert24 has no remote lock or remote wipe feature.

One side effect matters: while an app is a device administrator, Android does not let you uninstall it. That protects the app from being deleted by a snooper. To uninstall Alert24, remove the administrator first; the steps are at the end of this page.

When an alarm fires, Alert24 draws a full-screen lock on top of whatever is open, with the PIN pad, pattern grid or knock grid to stop the siren. Android calls the ability to do that "Display over other apps" or "Appear on top". It is also what lets the app open the camera briefly in the background for an intruder photo.

This is the one permission that is not optional in practice. Without it, no alarm is shown or heard. It is requested on the first run; Android opens its settings page and you switch Alert24 on.

Location is used for three things. First, the address stored with each intruder photo, so you know where a photo was taken. Second, trusted places: the app compares your position with saved places such as home and pauses alerts when you are there. Third, Remote Access: when you ask for the phone's location from a browser, the phone answers with its position and address.

Remote locate has to work while the app is in the background and the phone is in someone else's hands, which is why Remote Access asks for location "Allow all the time". Android shows a disclosure before that request, and refusing it simply leaves Remote Access off. The app does not track you continuously; it reads the location when a photo is taken, when checking trusted places, and when you send a locate command.

If you refuse location, alarms still work, photos are saved without an address, trusted places are unavailable, and a locate request can only return a rough estimate based on the phone's network connection rather than a GPS position.

The permission sheet calls this "Phone State: allow app to detect active calls to pause alarms and prevent interruptions". While you are in a call, the app does not start a beep or siren, and the pickpocket alarm ignores the proximity sensor changes that happen when you lift the phone to your ear.

If you refuse it, the alarms still work, but one may sound during a call.

Alert24 keeps a small background service running so that a sensor change, an unplugged charger or a remote command is noticed at once. Android requires such a service to show a notification, which is the "Your Phone is Protected" line you see while protection is on. On Android 13 and later the app asks for permission to show it.

Battery optimisation, if left on, lets Android suspend background apps to save power, which can silence the alarm exactly when you need it. The app asks to be excluded. On phones from some makers there is an extra "Auto Start" setting that decides whether an app may run after a restart; the app shows that row only when the phone has it. Read more in theft alarm battery and background behaviour.

Alert24 can read the list of installed apps. It uses that for the suspicious apps scan, which lists sideloaded apps that hold device administrator rights and many sensitive permissions, and for the optional "App installed" photo, which takes a picture when a new app is installed. This is a scan of app permissions, not an antivirus, and it does not detect malware.

Physical activity recognition is requested only when you switch on pickpocket automation, so the app can tell that you are walking with the phone in a pocket and arm the alarm by itself.