4.4 kitkat - How to find installed apps which are using SMS feature

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo (Android KitKat). Some of the apps are using my SMS feature and SMS are costing pennies from my pocket without my knowledge.

I want to know what are all the apps which are sending SMS. If I found list of Apps, is this possible to restrict them from not using SMS feature without uninstalling them.

Answer

Go to Settings -> Apps -> Downloaded. Here you'll see a list of all the apps that you have downloaded from the internet.

If you open any one and scroll down to the bottom, you'll see all the permissions that the app has. An app that sends messages on its own would have the send SMS messages permission enabled, which looks like this.

If you see this in an app, you have found the potential culprit.

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Alternatively, you can download a third-party application like App Permission Watcher, to watch which app has the send SMS messages permission enabled.

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Unfortunately, if you are not rooted, the only way you can stop the app from sending SMS messages is by uninstalling it.

However, if you are rooted, then you can edit the permissions of each app using your superuser controller.