Google fixes bug that gave WhatsApp microphone access on Android phones, apologises to users – Times of India
Google urged users to update WhatsApp as a fix had been rolled out to address the issue. “We thank WhatsApp for their partnership and apologise for any confusion this bug may have caused users,” the company’s Android Developers account tweeted.
What was the Android bug?
In May, a Twitter engineer posted a tweet regarding a bug on WhatsApp. Foad Dabiri in a tweet noted that “WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6 AM (and that’s just a part of the timeline!) What’s going on?”. His tweet, in fact, evoked a reply from Musk where he said, “WhatsApp cannot be trusted.”
Dabiri shared a screenshot of the Android Dashboard which showed that microphone access was on for WhatsApp. Users have the option to allow and disallow access to apps and it shouldn’t be used in the background.
WhatsApp had made it clear and reiterated that it gives users complete control over their microphone settings. “Once granted permission, WhatsApp only accesses the mic when a user is making a call or recording a voice note or video – and even then, these communications are protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot hear them,”
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