[jeffdubin]

Yes. I check permissions on every app before I install it. Or, at least I did until that was recently taken away.

There are some permissions given to apps without a user prompt, e.g. start at boot. If there are five similar apps with similar functionality and ratings, I'll typically choose the one asking for the least permissions. And if I notice an app looking for excessive permissions (e.g. location) with no good reason why (e.g. a terminal app), that'll give me a clue that there's a ton of data being collected.

Once upon a time, a giant percentage of a device's user base was tech-savvy early adopters. But with billions of devices having been sold, 99%+ of Android users have very little interest in details like permissions.

But when these details are taken away... when I can't see permissions, when apps I use lose features because of new, restrictive Play Store policies, and when Android continues down this road of "privacy" without insight into exactly what my phone is doing... well, if I wanted this, I'd have chosen an Apple device.