diff --git a/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml b/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
index 9f0dd6d..f9d86fe 100644
--- a/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -3,10 +3,29 @@
 
     <!-- ===== Permissions ===== -->
     <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
-    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_MEDIA_IMAGES" />
-    <!-- For older Android versions. Capped at 32: from 33 READ_MEDIA_IMAGES
-         above is the permission that governs this, and requesting broad storage
-         on a modern device is both ineffective and a Play review flag. -->
+    <!-- READ_MEDIA_IMAGES was declared here and REMOVED 2026-09-19, because
+         Play's photo and video permissions policy refused it and was right to.
+         The policy allows it only where a system picker is "technically
+         insufficient to provide core app functionality", and here it is not
+         even close:
+
+           * every operational photograph opens the CAMERA directly — parcel
+             shots at pickup, proof of delivery at the door, stop verification.
+             None of them read the library, deliberately: a picture chosen from
+             the gallery could have been taken anywhere at any time and would
+             not be evidence that a parcel was collected or delivered;
+           * the ONE gallery read in the app is a rider setting their profile
+             photograph, once, at sign-up.
+
+         So the app's real need is the textbook "one-time or infrequent" case
+         the policy points at the Android photo picker for. image_picker 1.1.2
+         already routes `ImageSource.gallery` through that system picker on
+         Android 13+ when this permission is absent, so removing it keeps the
+         profile picker working and needs no permission at all. -->
+    <!-- For older Android versions, where the photo picker does not exist.
+         Capped at 32: from 33 the system picker above governs this, and
+         requesting broad storage on a modern device is both ineffective and a
+         Play review flag. -->
     <uses-permission
         android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
         android:maxSdkVersion="32" />
diff --git a/pubspec.yaml b/pubspec.yaml
index 55a56eb..223a47b 100644
--- a/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/pubspec.yaml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: miler
 description: Miler Rider - Smarter Pickups, Powered by AI
 publish_to: "none"
 
-version: 1.2.30+146
+version: 1.2.35+151
 
 
 environment: