Someone posted this on r/IndiaInvestments discord. Reposting it here in case anyone is interested.

How to run iMobile without giving it SMS access.

1) Download App Ops from Playstore.
2) Download Shizuku and complete the wifi debugging setup
3) Open App Ops and Set SMS permission to Ignore. It sends empty data to app.

Prefer open source alternative like app manager

or use iOS 😜

Thanks for sharing. very useful indeed. ⚠️ PSA : Before one installs apps like App Ops and Shizuku, do understand what these can do and the trust you are placing in them. For example, authorising Shizuku for Wireless adb, you are effectively giving it the permission to do anything on the phone (without your knowledge) similar to what can be done using an

adb

command from an authorised PC connected to the phone.

Yes. I am aware of the risks. However, Shizuku is open-source. So, it seems a little less risky 🙂

How does one ensure that the source on their github is also exactly whats' published on the play store?

You can't, unless it's from a known good source like f-droid which builds all apps from source.

@faint-energy-11966 Is the truecaller working fine? I wanted to use Truecaller, but it doesn't work without reading the contacts. So I created multiple users in android, created a second user, added a secondary gmail account and uses truecaller in that. A bit hacky, but gets it done.

@mysterious-diamond-89338 Yes. Truecaller is working fine for me.