Android permissions¶
Every permission HKI 7 declares, why it is there, and what stops working without it.
Always required¶
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
INTERNET |
Talking to your Home Assistant. Nothing works without it. |
ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE |
Noticing when the network changes so the connection can reconnect rather than sitting there dead. |
Local network detection¶
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
ACCESS_WIFI_STATE |
Reading the current Wi-Fi network name, so the app can pick the internal URL when you are on your home network. |
CHANGE_WIFI_MULTICAST_STATE |
mDNS discovery of Home Assistant on the local network during setup. |
Notifications¶
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
POST_NOTIFICATIONS |
Showing notifications at all. Denying it means Home Assistant's notifications never appear; the rest of the app is unaffected. |
FOREGROUND_SERVICE, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_DATA_SYNC |
The persistent connection behind Background notifications — delivery while the app is closed. |
Location — all optional¶
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION |
Presence: reporting the device tracker and geocoded location to your server. |
ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION |
Geofence transitions while the app is closed. Without it, presence only updates while HKI 7 is open. Android requires this to be granted separately, in system settings. |
FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION |
The service used only by High accuracy mode. Normal presence runs no such service. |
Decline all of these and HKI 7 works normally — you simply get no device tracker.
Background reliability¶
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
WAKE_LOCK |
Finishing a short background job — a location push, a backup — without the device sleeping mid-way. |
RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED |
Re-registering geofences after a reboot, since Android does not preserve them, and restarting the notification connection if it was enabled. |
Not permissions, but asked for anyway¶
- Battery optimisation exemption
-
Requested, not required. When the app is battery-optimised, Android may delay or drop the periodic refresh that keeps location and battery reporting current.
- Unrestricted background usage
-
Same effect from the other direction — a restricted app has its background work stopped outright.
- Google Drive (
drive.appdata) -
Only if you turn on Drive backups. It grants access to the app's own private folder in your Drive and nothing else.
What HKI 7 does not ask for¶
No contacts, no camera, no microphone, no storage-wide access, no phone state, no advertising id, no accounts beyond the Google sign-in you explicitly initiate for Drive backups.