It's is needed for nip 46. If you don't plan to use nip 46 apps you can download the offline version of the apk that does not have internet permissions
Discussion
I don't know what that means, I can still send notes just fine with my key in amber even though I revoked Amber's network permissions in graphene.
pretty sure it doesn't need network permissions to talk on localhost, that's not *internet* (LAN should also be exempt)
NIP-46, on teh other hand, is a relay thing and necessarily requires inbound network connection permission, and actually that's not even in the realm of what android permissions allow, because i'm pretty sure that it's assumed that all android devices are either behind NAT or not allowed to by the mobile provider
could be done with a network exposed VPS running a wireguard tunnel but that's about it