adobe acrobat pdf reader now wants unnecessary permissions: workarounds? alternatives? I recently went to reinstall adobe acrobat pdf reader, I found it now requires permissions for identity and ability to create accounts - I'm sure they weren't there last time I installed it.

I just want to read pdfs. They don't need accounts for that.

Is there a way to block it (I'm on lollipop, 5.1); or is there a less intrusive alternative?

I'm not keen on sideloading an older version from a random website.
You can try PDF Viewer from pspdfkit. Google Play Link.
The company makes the reader which is used in a couple of popular apps like Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Scribd, etc...
It works with Android 5.1, and requires minimal permissions.


  This app has access to:


Photos/Media/Files

read the contents of your USB storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Storage

read the contents of your USB storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Other

receive data from Internet
view network connections
full network access
run at startup
prevent device from sleeping


You can block the network permissions if you like. It is only used in their instant feature which allows more than one people to comment at the same time.

It supports Annotations and bookmarks, Has a Manager for the annotations which looks like a Open Book icon on the header.

Page scrolling can be set as per the settings in the Gear Icon.
Additionally you can delete pages or export some pages as a separate document.