Comment by smilliken

At my company (MixRank), we do static analysis on apps for business intelligence. We've collected lots of data on permissions, SDKs, integrations, frameworks, etc. If anyone has any interesting queries they'd like me to run, I can give it a shot.

Here's the most popular permissions we've identified:

                            permission                         |  apps   | pct_apps 
   ------------------------------------------------------------+---------+----------
    android.permission.INTERNET                                | 2607544 |    92.90
    android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE                    | 2332429 |    83.10
    android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE                   | 1707550 |    60.83
    android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE                  | 1696178 |    60.43
    android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE                        | 1154963 |    41.15
    android.permission.WAKE_LOCK                               |  989176 |    35.24
    android.permission.ACCESS_WIFI_STATE                       |  944675 |    33.65
    android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION                    |  798122 |    28.43
    android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION                  |  770878 |    27.46
    android.permission.VIBRATE                                 |  734366 |    26.16
    com.google.android.c2dm.permission.RECEIVE                 |  687083 |    24.48
    android.permission.GET_ACCOUNTS                            |  676143 |    24.09
    android.permission.CAMERA                                  |  436581 |    15.55
    android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED                  |  429658 |    15.30
    android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO                            |  243793 |     8.68
    android.permission.GET_TASKS                               |  235717 |     8.39
    android.permission.CALL_PHONE                              |  218079 |     7.76
    com.android.vending.BILLING                                |  200927 |     7.15
    android.permission.READ_CONTACTS                           |  190848 |     6.79
    com.google.android.providers.gsf.permission.READ_GSERVICES |  188162 |     6.70
    android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW                     |  176363 |     6.28
    com.android.launcher.permission.INSTALL_SHORTCUT           |  164649 |     5.86
    android.permission.SET_WALLPAPER                           |  156845 |     5.58
    android.permission.ACCESS_LOCATION_EXTRA_COMMANDS          |  131898 |     4.69
    android.permission.WRITE_SETTINGS                          |  122783 |     4.37
    android.permission.USE_CREDENTIALS                         |  110675 |     3.94
    android.permission.BLUETOOTH                               |  106272 |     3.78
    android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS                   |  102882 |     3.66
    android.permission.SEND_SMS                                |   97892 |     3.48
    android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS                          |   97585 |     3.47
    com.android.browser.permission.READ_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS      |   97147 |     3.46
    android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE                       |   97074 |     3.45
    android.permission.READ_CALL_LOG                           |   90001 |     3.20
    com.android.vending.CHECK_LICENSE                          |   79279 |     2.82
    android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN                         |   78199 |     2.78
    android.permission.FLASHLIGHT                              |   74952 |     2.67
    android.permission.RECEIVE_SMS                             |   73898 |     2.63
    android.permission.BROADCAST_STICKY                        |   67092 |     2.39
    android.permission.DISABLE_KEYGUARD                        |   66887 |     2.38
    com.android.browser.permission.WRITE_HISTORY_BOOKMARKS     |   65765 |     2.34
    android.permission.READ_CALENDAR                           |   61989 |     2.20
    android.permission.WRITE_CALENDAR                          |   61327 |     2.18
    android.permission.READ_LOGS                               |   60059 |     2.13