Worried that WhatsApp is listening in to your real-world conversations? Don’t. Both WhatsApp and Google have confirmed that they’re aware of a bug plaguing the messenger, causing the app to look as though it’s accessing your smartphone’s microphone, without actually doing anything. The bug (as Meta calls it), appears to only be affecting Android devices, with Google seemingly already working on a fix.
The issue was first called to attention by both WABetaInfo and Twitter engineer Foad Dabiri, sharing an image that confirmed WhatsApp’s use of the microphone, even when the app was closed. Not long after, Musk made his thoughts known, quote-tweeting his engineer’s post and saying that “WhatsApp cannot be trusted.”
Calling in the big guns
Over the last 24 hours we’ve been in touch with a Twitter engineer who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp.
We believe this is a bug on Android that mis-attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate. https://t.co/MnBi3qE6Gp
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) May 9, 2023
Yesterday, Meta finally associated itself with the issue on Twitter, citing Dabiri’s post, confirming that the event was indeed a bug. “We believe this is a bug on Android that misattributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate.”
As for what’s causing the bug, neither WhatsApp nor Google could provide a satisfactory answer. In a statement from a Google spokesperson, it gave the blandest GPT-like answer; “We are aware of the issue and are working closely with WhatsApp to investigate.”
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WABetaInfo believes the issue has only affected Samsung and Pixel owners, describing the bug as a “false positive” and that a phone restart could be a possible fix, though that hasn’t been confirmed. We should be hearing more solid news of an update that’ll rid the software of the bug over the coming weeks – hopefully sooner rather than later.
