How to parse 友だちへの追加を許可?


I was trying a certain "SNS" app and encountered this phrase "友だちへの追加を許可". Not
sure who it would allow to add whom, I switched my phone's language back to
English and the corresponding setting said "allow others to add me". (See
below the screenshots.)

Is it then correct that here "友だちへの" modifies "許可"? It feels quite strange to
me. I don't know how to theorize this but somehow I feel that the only
grammatically plausible modification relation here is that "友だちへの" modifies
"追加". What am I missing here?

[![screen_shot_JP](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jrA1c.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jrA1c.jpg)[![screen_shot_EN](https://i.stack.imgur.com/08poK.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/08poK.jpg)




(誰かを)友達に追加する means "to add (someone) as a friend". (誰かを)友達へ追加する would also
mean the same thing, but its nuance is closer to "to add (someone) _to_ the
friend (list)".

Following [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33605/5010) rule, the
nominalized version of those is 友達への追加. (Somehow にの is an invalid
combination.) Thus 友達への追加を許可 literally means "Allow adding as a friend" or
”Allow adding to the friend list".

This may not be 100% wrong, but I agree that it's highly confusing. Since
there is no word that corresponds to "others", it's very hard to get who's
doing what. It should have been "他の人が(あなたを)友達に追加するのを許可" or at least
"他人に友達追加を許可". (The gray description below the checkbox is clear enough,
though.)




(誰かを)友達に追加する means "to add (someone) as a friend". (誰かを)友達へ追加する would also
mean the same thing, but its nuance is closer to "to add (someone) _to_ the
friend (list)".

Following [this](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/33605/5010) rule, the
nominalized version of those is 友達への追加. (Somehow にの is an invalid
combination.) Thus 友達への追加を許可 literally means "Allow adding as a friend" or
”Allow adding to the friend list".

This may not be 100% wrong, but I agree that it's highly confusing. Since
there is no word that corresponds to "others", it's very hard to get who's
doing what. It should have been "他の人が(あなたを)友達に追加するのを許可" or at least
"他人に友達追加を許可". (The gray description below the checkbox is clear enough,
though.)

