WhatsApp’s Android app using mic even when it isn’t being used
While WhatsApp is working on a bunch of new features for its messaging app, there is a big bug that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. According to several user reports, because of an underlying bug, WhatsApp is continuously using the mic even when the user closes the app. This issue appears to be affecting several Android smartphones, including ones from Samsung and Google.
A Twitter engineer brought this WhatsApp mic bug to light and posted a screenshot of the history of the microphone activity in Android’s Privacy Dashboard. It clearly shows the WhatsApp app accessing the mic very frequently. Moreover, the microphone activity was clearly visible through the green dot notification on the Android status bar as well.
There isn’t any temporary fix for this WhatsApp mic bug on Android
WhatsApp cannot be trusted https://t.co/3gdNxZOLLy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
WhatsApp responded to the serious user reports, claiming that the issue lies with the Android OS and not the app itself. WhatsApp claims that there is an underlying bug within the Android OS that is ‘miss-attributing’ information in the privacy dashboard, and the Facebook-owned messaging app has asked Google to investigate it further.
The worst part is that WhatsApp’s response did not come until billionaire Elon Musk shared his opinion on this matter via his official Twitter platform. And as you might have guessed, Musk’s reaction wasn’t positive, and he accused WhatsApp of not being trustworthy. Whatever the case may be, this is a worrying situation for the billions who use WhatsApp, as their privacy is at risk. As of now, there isn’t a fix available for this bug.
