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Android doesn't request the permission, the app does (via the app manifest) While that is the stated reason, that really isn't a legitimate reason for a remote control app to require location as it might not even work in all network scenarios. (i.e. the device in question may not be using a wifi network the phone can see/use)

Keep in mind that many things including trivial flashlight apps have a history of wanting location access. There's usually a pretext in the form of some questionable/marginal feature that's used as a justification for the permission. Often after some digging the real reason becomes apparent in the form of data collection or an included ad serving library.

For example, I have a 'smart' thermostat which has an app that requests location access. I deny it and it still works. There's at least one feature they use to justify requesting it but I suspect that if there weren't other uses (having nothing to do with benefiting me) for location data that the feature requiring location data probably wouldn't even exist.




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