[jeff k]

I always deny facebook apps access to friends. Well now I'm on an iphone for a couple of months now, still newbie. A calling card app says it wants access to my contacts, What are the ramifications of this? Would you allow it? It's a good legit company, but still I wonder about that risk.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I would say no until i've read the TOS with a jewelers loop.

[jeff k]

Ok, Blaze, I'll call them and ask, but again, what do you know about this? Is this odd? Why do they even ask, I don't get it...

[Spheric Harlot]

What's a calling card app?

One that reads and saves calling cards? It can't add them to your contacts if you don't give it access.

[Thorzdad]

I never give access to Contacts to any third-party app. But, I've not yet used an app that has any logical use for my Contacts, either. It isn't odd, or unusual, though. Far too many apps seem to want access to things that they really shouldn't, including Contacts.

It would help if you told us exactly what this "calling card app" does. If it, as SH suggests, scans a photo of a calling card, does a bit of character recognition, and creates a new Contacts entry for it, then you pretty much have to allow access. That said, I'd quintuple-check that it doesn't also rummage-though all of your Contacts and sends that information back to its mother ship.

[jeff k]

Sorry guys, the company is called Penny Talk, or also Net2Phone, major calling card company. You have a balance of phone minutes and their app, pennytalk, you can make calls right within the app, which saves having to pay a surcharge supposedly. Yet surprisingly the apps demands access to my contacts. That crazy right?

[Spheric Harlot]

Aha, so you can make calls right within the app.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could just select a person from a list of your contacts and call him, rather than having to enter the whole long phone number digit by digit, or having to copy and paste it from the Contacts app?

Yes, it would. That's why the app would like to access your list of contacts.

[jeff k]

Ok, thanks S, that why I come here. For some common sense advice!

So nothing then narfaious here, you would grant the access? Funny, but I don't plan on calling too many people from contacts, it's just a emergency app/ service for me, and I get those request to access my facebook friends which I think is a bit dangerous.

[Spheric Harlot]

I'm very careful with the permissions I grant applications, but if the calling-card app/service are reputable, then chances are pretty good that they're not doing anything nefarious.

No guarantees, of course. Do what you feel comfortable with.