A permission management method, apparatus, and terminal. The permission management method includes obtaining an installation package of a first application program, where the installation package carries a first certificate and permission request information of the first application program, determining, according to the permission request information, a first permission that the first application program requires during running, where the first permission is a system administrator permission of a system, and granting the first permission to the first application program according to the first certificate of the first application program. In this way, the first permission that the first application program requires during running is granted to the first application program.
