# Permission Pilot: one screen for every permission your Android apps hold > Permission Pilot is a Kotlin Android app that gathers the permission state of every installed app into a single place, with an overview dashboard, an app list, a permission index, a watcher for permission changes and Markdown, CSV or JSON export. It suits someone auditing what their phone has granted, and it cannot change a permission itself, because Android does not allow that for a third-party app on a non-rooted device. **d4rken-org/permission-pilot** — Android permission explorer 🧑‍✈️ - Repository: https://github.com/d4rken-org/permission-pilot - Website: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.darken.myperm - Stars: 693 · Forks: 80 - Language: Kotlin - License: GPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-10-21 · Updated: 2026-10-21 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/d4rken-org-permission-pilot ## A void in the Android app market, stated in the project's own words Permission Pilot is described as a new kind of app to help the user view apps and which permissions they use, and the README explains the origin plainly. It was born out of a feature discussion for SD Maid, and the project links the original issue as its origin story. The problem statement is the part that makes the case. Android has app permissions scattered in multiple places, requiring the user to navigate through multiple pages within System Settings to properly configure permissions for installed apps. Moreover, there is no way to view the status of all permissions for any app from one place. Both halves of that matter. The first is a navigation complaint, and it is the kind that builds up over years of a phone in daily use, where granting a permission means finding the right Settings page for that one app. The second is a data problem, and it is the more interesting one. The system settings can tell you about an app's permissions one app at a time, and they can list the apps that hold a permission one permission at a time, but there is no single view of the whole matrix. So the solution is a bird's eye view of all permissions for installed apps from one place, and the app is organised around that. The primary language is Kotlin, the licence is GPL v3 for the code, the default branch is main, and the last push was on 2026-10-14. The releases are all release candidates, v2.2.4-rc0 from 2026-09-11, v2.2.3-rc0 from 2026-09-03 and v2.2.2-rc0 from 2026-08-16. ## Four views over the same data, and a watcher that reports changes The feature list is six items, and the first three are the views. The Overview Dashboard is a summary of your device showing app counts by category, with the categories being privacy, security, install source and system, and each category navigates directly to a filtered app list. That is the entry point, and it is the piece that answers the question the app exists for, which is how many apps on this device hold the kind of permission I care about. The Apps tab shows all installed apps, including system apps, work profile and multi-user apps. Tapping any app shows every permission it has requested, their granted or denied status, the install source, and a full manifest viewer. The detail about system apps, work profile and multi-user apps is the one that makes this a diagnostic tool rather than a settings shortcut, because those are the apps most often invisible in the normal Settings flow. The Permissions tab is the transpose. It lists all permissions on your device, grouped by category such as Contacts, Camera and Microphone, and tapping a permission shows every app that requests it. Together with the Apps tab this gives both directions of the matrix, which is the difference between a list and an audit. The fourth feature is a watcher rather than a view. Permission Watcher monitors apps for permission changes when they are installed, updated or removed, and creates a report if anything changed. That is the piece that answers the question a privacy audit usually starts with, which is what changed and when. The last two are practical. Data Export produces app or permission data in Markdown, CSV or JSON, and Search, Sort and Filter gives free-text search, multiple sort options and filter chips across all views. ## The hard limit: it can look but not touch The Limitations section is a single paragraph and it is the most important thing in the README. Android does not allow third-party apps to change permissions on non-rooted devices. Permission Pilot shows all the information in one place and can launch the appropriate System Settings page for any changes you want to make. That is an honest description of what the app is, and it is worth being blunt about what it means in practice. Every change still requires the user to go to Settings and tap through, and the app is a map rather than a control panel. Someone expecting a permission manager, with a toggle per app in one screen, will not find that here. There is a related consequence for the watcher. Because the app cannot change a permission, it can only observe that one changed, which means its value is in producing a record rather than in preventing anything. The report it creates is evidence of a change, not a control over it. What the app does buy is completeness and speed. Instead of visiting an app's Settings page, reading its permission list, and going back, you can read the whole set in one place and then jump to the specific Settings page for the one permission you want to change. The limitation costs you the click; the overview saves you the hunt. ## Four ways to install it, and the package name that looks like someone else's The Downloads section lists four sources, and the choice between them is about trust and channel rather than about capability. The Google Play listing is the stable channel, and a Google Play Beta track is listed separately, which is the release candidate path the version tags correspond to. GitHub Releases carry the latest SemVer including pre-releases. F-Droid is listed as IzzyOnDroid, which is the community repository rather than the F-Droid client itself. One detail is worth pausing on, because it will look wrong to anyone who knows the project. The Play Store URL and the application id are eu.darken.myperm, which is the identifier the app was published under, and it is what appears in the F-Droid package listing and in the reproduction badge link. The project name in the repository is Permission Pilot. Nothing in the README explains the discrepancy, so the practical advice is to trust the links in the Downloads table rather than to guess from the package name. The README carries no build instructions, and there is no compile step documented for a reader to copy. The repository does contain a Gradle wrapper, a build.gradle.kts, a settings.gradle file, a buildSrc directory, a testapp directory, a tools directory and a fastlane directory for the store metadata, so the source is laid out as a normal Android project, but the documented route to a running app is one of the four download channels above. ## Crowdin for translations, and the licence that stops at the assets The community section is short, and the support section is where the interesting detail sits. There is a Discord server for chat. Then there are three ways to support the project, and they describe the shape of the project better than any feature list. You can buy the upgrade on Google Play, you can sponsor the project on GitHub, or you can contribute translations on Crowdin. The Crowdin route is not a sideline. The README carries a localized badge for the Crowdin project, the repository ships a crowdin.yml file, a crowdin.sh script and even a crowdin-cli.jar, and the thanks section credits crowdin.com for supporting open source projects. Translations are therefore a first-class contribution channel with tooling committed to the repository, which is a heavier investment in localisation than most projects of this size make. The licence is the part to read carefully. Permission Pilot's code is available under a GPL v3 license, and then the README lists what this excludes: the icons, logos, mascots, promotional artwork and other assets; the animations and videos; the documentation; the Google Play screenshots; the Google Play texts and descriptions; and the translations. So the code is copyleft and the everything-else is not. That matters in practice for two reasons. A fork can reuse the code under GPL terms but has to supply its own artwork, its own store listing and its own translations, and a fork that ships the original English strings is relying on content the grant does not cover. And the fact that the translations are excluded while the code is not is consistent with the Crowdin model, where the translated text is contributed rather than authored by the project. The repository also carries a PRIVACY_POLICY.md, a CNAME and a _config.yml, which is the shape of a project with its own documentation site, plus a CHANGELOG.md, a VERSION file, a version.properties file, an .idea directory and a .claude directory. ## Against the Settings app, and against a mobile security suite The comparison that matters is with the platform itself, because Permission Pilot is not competing with another audit tool so much as with the shape of Android's own settings. Android's Settings app is authoritative and always current, and it is the only place a permission can actually be changed. What it is not is a cross-app view. The Permissions tab in system settings will show which apps hold a given permission, but the navigation is by system page and by app, and the mental model is not the matrix. Permission Pilot's contribution is a different arrangement of the same underlying data, with the overview dashboard as the answer to a question the Settings app cannot be asked in one place. The other comparison is with the mobile security suites that bundle a permission manager. Those products, which are a different category of software rather than a specific project, attempt to give one screen where a permission can be revoked, and on a non-rooted device that promise is either limited to a redirect or handled by the vendor's own device management. Permission Pilot makes no such claim, and its single-screen report is something the Settings app cannot produce at all. So the honest position is that this is a read-only, complete, exportable view of a dimension of the device that the platform exposes only piecemeal, with the change itself delegated to the platform. For a privacy audit, a family device where someone wants to know what the kids' apps hold, or a support case where you need the facts about a handset, that is a real gap filled. For a user who wants to normalise their permissions once and never look again, the Settings app is a shorter path. ## Conclusion Permission Pilot fits a privacy conscious user or an auditor who wants to see the whole permission picture of a device in one place, and to export it for a record, and it does not fit anyone expecting a permission manager, since the project states that Android does not allow third-party apps to change permissions on non-rooted devices and the app can only open the relevant Settings page. Before installing it, note that the code is under GPL v3 while the icons, logos, mascots, animations, videos, documentation, store listings and translations are excluded from that grant, so a fork has to bring its own assets. ## FAQ ### Can Permission Pilot change app permissions on Android? No. The project states that Android does not allow third-party apps to change permissions on non-rooted devices, and that Permission Pilot shows all the information in one place and can launch the appropriate System Settings page for any changes you want to make. ### Where can I download Permission Pilot? From four sources listed in the README: Google Play, a Google Play Beta track, GitHub Releases with the latest SemVer including pre-releases, and F-Droid via IzzyOnDroid. The application id on the stores is eu.darken.myperm. ### What does the Permission Watcher feature do? It monitors apps for permission changes when they are installed, updated or removed, and creates a report if anything changed. Since the app cannot change permissions itself, the watcher produces a record of changes rather than preventing them. ### What is excluded from the Permission Pilot GPL v3 licence? The icons, logos, mascots, promotional artwork and other assets; the animations and videos; the documentation; the Google Play screenshots; the Google Play texts and descriptions; and the translations. The code itself is under GPL v3. ## Sources - [d4rken-org/permission-pilot on GitHub](https://github.com/d4rken-org/permission-pilot) - [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/d4rken-org/permission-pilot/blob/main/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.darken.myperm) - [README](https://github.com/d4rken-org/permission-pilot/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/d4rken-org/permission-pilot/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/d4rken-org-permission-pilot