Why does Niantic need access to ALL my photos to make a waypoint submission?

General Discussion
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This has been an annoyance of mine for some time. I play somewhere that it is often cold/raining (or both), so I would prefer to be able to take relevant photos quickly and then upload them later when I am inside and have more time to get the location precise on the map.

However, Ingress/PoGo are the only apps that I use which require access to the entire photo library to upload any photo from the library (this permission is not required when taking the photos in-app). There is a privacy setting on my phone to only allow access to selected photos, but both of these Niantic apps disallow photo uploads unless you grant full library access.

This is not only hugely unnecessary, but it makes me suspect that some data from all my photos - beyond the uploaded ones of course - is being access or used in some way.

What do you think? Is this intrusive privacy setting nefarious or ignorance on Niantic’s part? Or is there some benevolent reason that I am missing?

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I’ve always thought the library access was there so that you could choose/review any photo to submit.

If that can be achieved while locking the rest of them away, it may simply be an error.

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Most phones now have selective access, so you can choose which photos in your library that you will allow apps to access. This would work how you say where you could choose/review any photo to submit. The positive side of this privacy feature is that the apps cannot access any other photos, such as your child’s birthday party or your night out at the pub or the risque pictures of your partner or whatever. But Niantic’s apps require you to give full access for every picture in order to upload something. I’ve never seen another app function this way.

If this is an error, how would we submit a request for fixing it?