Explanation of Opera Mini for Android permissions

When installing Opera Mini, you will be asked to provide the app with certain permissions to access data on your Android device. The following describes the permissions Opera Mini requests, what each permission allows the app to do, and why the app collects this data.

Read phone status and identity

This permission allows Opera Mini to read your device’s International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. Opera Mini collects and anonymizes this device identifier to more accurately count Opera Mini users with the purpose of improving the software and associated services.

Take pictures and video

This permission allows Opera Mini to take pictures and video with the camera. When uploading files to web sites, you can access your camera directly from Opera Mini instead of choosing an existing file.
Opera Mini also uses the camera to read QR codes.

Precise location (GPS and network-based)

This permission allows Opera Mini to access your device’s location based on global-positioning satellites, what network your device uses to access the web, and the strength of your connection to nearby networks. Opera Mini uses your location to display ads in the Discover news feed. Providing your location ensures that this content is relevant to you.

Read your contacts

This permission allows Opera Mini to read your device’s contact data or address book. Using this data, you can choose to find your contacts on Facebook through Opera Mini’s interface. Opera Mini prompts you before you opt in to revealing any contact data to it or Facebook. The app will not view or use this data without your consent. This permission allows Facebook certain privileges through its third-party API. Please review the section above concerning data collected by third parties.

Read your web bookmarks and history

This permission allows Opera Mini to view and replicate any bookmarks stored in the standard Android location, where your stock browser likely saves them. Opera Mini displays these bookmarks in its bookmark manager.
By request, Opera Mini can use this data to import bookmarks into the app. Importing this data is optional. You must manually initiate the import process; Opera Mini does not manage your device’s bookmark data without your consent.

If you import your bookmarks into Opera Mini, this data will be stored in your Opera Mini client. If you sign into an Opera account using Opera Mini’s synchronization service, your data will be collected by Opera’s servers and stored there. Please review the above section concerning how Opera treats data collected to provide synchronization services for more information.

Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

This permission allows Opera Mini to access your local file storage on your device. Opera Mini needs this permission to allow you to download files from the web and manage them through the app’s interface.

Read the contents of your SD card

This permission allows Opera Mini to read the contents of external storage discs on your device, including secure digital (SD) cards or hard drives connected to your Android device via Universal Serial Bus (USB). Opera Mini needs this permission to allow you to open, download to and manage files found on external discs through the app.

Control Near Field Communication

This permission allows Opera Mini to share information between devices using radio frequencies, when the devices are placed near each other. Opera Mini uses this permission to share its active tab pages between devices. If you place another compatible device nearby, Android will ask if the page location of the active tab should be shared. Both devices must support Near Field Communication.

Full network access

This permission allows Opera Mini to access network data through both Wi-Fi and mobile network connections (for example, GPRS, 3G, or EDGE connections). Opera Mini uses this permission to send and receive requests from Opera Mini servers, which fetch and deliver web content to your device.

View network connections

This permission allows Opera Mini to determine whether your device is connected to Wi-Fi or a mobile network connection (for example, GPRS, 3G, or EDGE connections). Opera Mini uses this information to prompt you when downloading large files on mobile network connections. The app asks whether you want to postpone a large download for a later time when your device is connected via Wi-Fi.

Draw over other apps / display system-level alerts

This permission allows Opera Mini to draw on top of other applications. Opera Mini uses this to draw a dark overlay over the screen when the night mode feature is enabled.

Control flashlight

This permission allows Opera Mini to control your device’s flashlight. Opera Mini uses this permission to support taking pictures with a flash.

Control vibration

This permission allows Opera Mini to vibrate the phone. Opera Mini may vibrate your phone briefly when you receive a new notification.

Prevent device from sleeping

This permission allows Opera Mini to prevent your device’s processor from sleeping. Opera Mini uses this permission to support syncing services. It keeps the app awake while checking messages from Opera’s servers that inform the app if changes have been made to your Opera account. The next time you open Opera Mini, the app syncs with the server and updates to reflect any changes made on other devices.

Delete all app cache data

This permission allows Opera Mini to remove cache files in order to speed up device performance. Opera Mini prompts you before it cleans the cache.

Install shortcuts

This permission allows Opera Mini to create shortcuts on your device’s home screen. When tapped, these shortcuts open selected pages using the Opera Mini app. This feature is under development and may not be available in your version of Opera Mini.

Measure app storage space

This permission allows Opera Mini to measure the size of the cache files on the device. If the size of the cache is large, Opera Mini can offer to clear the cache in order to speed up device performance.