Why am I asked to allow notifications on the Socrait Android App?

During streaming, we show a persistent notification in the notification tray that indicates Socrait is active in the background, which keeps the fact that we are listening to the mic visible/transparent, even if the app is switched away from. 

In the future, we may display reminders via notification (e.g. to start Socrait for class). Our intent would be to provide an opt-out mechanism if or when we build that capability, to keep teachers in full control.