When you decide to upload a photo on to your Instagram or social media, you will face a choice: Are you going to let the app see your entire camera roll or not?

Many of the apps that we use every day will ask if you want to grant the app full access to your phone’s images and videos ― and you should think twice before permitting this, no matter how convenient it is, privacy experts say.

“When you limit access to only select photos, you’re both … protecting yourself from accidentally uploading multiple pictures you do not intend, and ensuring that the app can’t access more than you want, either by accident or malicious intent,” said Thorin Klosowski, a security and privacy activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Your camera roll doesn’t just have fun photos from vacations and pictures of your families, it’s also a record of who you are and what you like. Many of us often take photos for verification that reveal our identities like passports and new credit cards. These are the kind of images scammers want to exploit. In 2023, researchers discovered that malicious apps were scanning users’ image galleries to hunt for crypto wallet access recovery phrases. Google and Apple later removed these apps from their stores.

It’s definitely more inconvenient to search through albums to find that one photo you want to post instead of having the full library within an app, but that’s the point. That extra time you take to select one photo forces you to think about what exactly you want to share with an app that may compromise your privacy later.

Meta, in particular, has a long history of concerning privacy advocates. In 2022, Facebook gave police private messages of a mother and daughter facing criminal charges for allegedly carrying out an abortion.

“That’s an especially striking example of how Meta is willing to share data with law enforcement … to continue chipping away at Americans’ privacy and civil rights,” said Will Owen, communication director for the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.

Last year, a Facebook feature asked users to grant access to their phone’s camera roll in order to automatically suggest AI-edited versions of their photos. The pop-up prompt would ask: “Allow cloud processing to get creative ideas from your camera roll?” However, if users permitted this, they also opted into having their images and facial features analyzed by Meta’s AI ― which upset some users. This feature no longer appears available to users within Facebook. Meta did not respond to HuffPost questions about the status of this feature.

In general, you should always double-check what you’re letting an app see from your phone. On Facebook, you can do this by going to the Facebook app, choosing “Settings & Privacy” and then selecting “Camera roll sharing suggestions” within “Settings.” From there, you can toggle on or off the option to “Get camera roll suggestions when you’re browsing Facebook.”

Refusing to grant full access to any one app is one small way to stop yourself from sharing images you would regret later by accident or on purpose.

Klosowski said he’s seen “countless stories over the years of people just accidentally uploading their entire photo libraries to social media because of confusing prompts.”

When you refuse to grant your favourite social media app full access to your camera roll, it will take you more steps to find and select your preferred image, and this will be a bit more of a hassle. “I realise people find the photo picker cumbersome because the user experience is kind of awful,” Klosowski said.

“But a side effect is it also puts a little speed bump in front of you while you’re thinking about whether you should post that photo to begin with, which isn’t always a bad thing,” he continued.

It’s an all too common ― but incredibly annoying ― experience. You’re sitting in a coffee shop, waiting room, airport terminal or other public place, and someone nearby starts talking on the phone, using speakerphone.

Whether you want to or not, you can hear every detail, from the weekend plans to the workplace gossip to the doctor’s appointment recap. And according to etiquette experts, this behaviour is not just annoying ― it’s quite rude too.

“You’re forcing those around you to participate in your private conversation,” said Nick Leighton, an etiquette expert and host of the Were You Raised by Wolves? podcast.

Unlike a traditional phone call, where only one side of the dialogue is audible, talking on speakerphone in public broadcasts everything into a shared space.

“This is both rude and dangerous,” said Jodi R.R. Smith, the president of Mannersmith Etiquette Consulting. “First, is it rude to those forced others to endure your own personal version of performance art. Second, callers should only be put on speakerphone after granting permission. Not all callers realise that their conversation is public and may have details they do not want the entire world to know.”

The person on the other end may assume they’re having a private exchange and broadcast personal information about you to the ears of strangers. Someone with bad intentions could hear sensitive financial or medical information.

That lack of consent is also a key issue, as the person didn’t necessarily want random people in line at the pharmacy to overhear their conversation.

“It’s also not polite to the person on the other end who may not realise they’re on speakerphone and strangers are listening in,” Leighton added.

Discretion is a key factor as well. Speakerphone calls tend to be louder, with exaggerated vocal tones that amplify the disruption.

“Speakerphone etiquette dictates that you use it only in a public space,” said Diane Gottsman, the author of Modern Etiquette for a Better Life and founder of The Protocol School of Texas. “You’re sharing information that may be confidential. The other person may not know they are on speakerphone and it interrupts and disrupts the people around.”

“Basically, confined spaces and loud noise and exaggerated gestures are not a good combination for other people’s comfort level,” she added.

But whether you’re on a small, crowded bus or in a big terminal, you should be mindful of voice volume and disturbance.

“When others are around, any conversation ― including those on speakerphone ― should be kept to a minimum,” Smith said. “We need to be conscious and respectful to those around us.”

She acknowledged that there can be exceptions ― moments when using speakerphone might be briefly necessary.

“You forgot your earbuds and need to type a note into your cell phone as the caller is explaining something to you,” Smith said. “For a moment or two, yes, it is fine to have a quick conversation on speaker. But not a prolonged conversation.”

There are also accessibility considerations.

“It used to be the case that a cell phone directly on the ear of someone wearing a hearing aid caused the listener great discomfort,” Smith said. “Thankfully, hearing aids have made great strides and those with Bluetooth allow the wearer to actually answer the phone directly into the hearing aid. But this is a point of privilege, and not everyone has or can afford these.”

Gottsman emphasised that emergencies and accessibility needs deserve grace.

“Those who have accessibility issues can use captions, and if they must use the phone on speaker, I believe we should give an exception if it’s an emergency period,” she said. “If it’s just to call a friend, the same rules of courtesy would apply.”

In general, it’s probably best to pretend that speakerphone isn’t an option when you’re out in public.

“Holding the phone up to your ear or using earphones is good,” Leighton said. “If you need to take a call and need to use speakerphone, it’s kind to step away from other people if at all possible and keep your voice low.”

And if stepping away isn’t feasible? Keep it short.

“If you need to have a longer conversation or when you are using speakerphone, either schedule a time to call them back or find a quiet corner where you will not be distracting or disturbing others,” Smith said.

Ultimately, this isn’t about rigid rules ― it’s about recognising that shared spaces require shared courtesy.

“Etiquette understands that perfection is not always possible,” Leighton said. “But the key is that you at least try.”