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This screenshot doesn't make any sense. Android won't allow a background app to access the microphone or camera. If it would, then there is an exploit in Androi

This screenshot doesn't make any sense. Android won't allow a background app to access the microphone or camera. If it would, then there is an exploit in Android but I doubt it's a security bug since no one actually noticed it (Android notifies when an app access the microphone). Also, if Whatsapp did somehow listen in the background , it seems like those are one-time accesses. WhatsApp would not benefit anything if it would listen for a very short time. It seems like it would be a stupid action from WhatsApp, since they would have to go through the trouble of transcribing voice to text, and it costs power. If WhatsApp would listen all the time, or for even a minute, the battery consumption would go very high. Doesn't seem feasible. It seems like a bug in WhatsApp or a bug in Android's privacy dashboard.

fancyfredbot 3y ago
Android will let you give an app permission to use the microphone in the background but this is not the default
- worldsavior 3y ago
  It only has "While using the app" permission. I know there are voice recorders but I believe a notification of some sort is needed.
iudqnolq 3y ago
WhatsApp says it's an Android bug, Google says they're investigating. This would be a better url. https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-bug-is-making-some-android-phones-falsely-report-microphone-access-220213592.html https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-bug-is-making-some-android...
- de6u99er 3y ago
  More likely an Android exploit WhatsApp is making use of instead of doing the right thing and reporting it to Google.
  - iudqnolq 3y ago
    If so that will be revealed by the ongoing investigation. I'm going to wait a bit before speculating. In general I'm skeptical of the value proposition. You can't record too much without tanking the battery life. They already have so much to target advertisements. What does a random snippet that probably doesn't even have any talking add?
    - snowe2010 3y ago
      > You can't record too much without tanking the battery life. Is that an Android thing? I use Merlin to listen to birds and I can record for hours and only lose 20-30%.
      - iudqnolq 3y ago
        depending on what you mean by hours that sounds like significant battery drain compared to screen off and asleep?
        snowe2010 3y ago
        I mean it’s still recording with the screen off and I’m also using gps for tracking. For hours I mean like 4-5. I don’t think that’s significant at all. You would hardly notice it if you were actually using your phone.
        iudqnolq 3y ago
        Huh. I see a very significant drop in battery life if I use gps for tracking. My phone would last for days with the screen off, airplane mode, and no apps running in the background. Add tracking and it lasts maybe 10 hours. (I pay attention to this because it's a factor in determining how many battery packs to take backpacking)
    - georgeplusplus 3y ago
      >>> can't record too much without tanking the battery life I disagree, a cellphone's microphone is a passive component don't see why this would affect battery life in a big way.
squarefoot 3y ago
> If WhatsApp would listen all the time, or for even a minute, the battery consumption would go very high. Doesn't seem feasible. Regardless if it's true or not, should WhatsApp or any other app spy on the user by using the microphone in the background, the "safe" (from their POV) way to do that would be to tap into the audio signal, save it somewhere at low bitrate while removing silent parts, then wait when the user starts an update or any network/cpu intensive job and compress+transmit it in the background. No need to keep the CPU at high load 100% of the time.

fancyfredbot 3y ago

Android will let you give an app permission to use the microphone in the background but this is not the default

worldsavior 3y ago
It only has "While using the app" permission. I know there are voice recorders but I believe a notification of some sort is needed.

iudqnolq 3y ago

WhatsApp says it's an Android bug, Google says they're investigating. This would be a better url. https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-bug-is-making-some-android-phones-falsely-report-microphone-access-220213592.html https://www.engadget.com/whatsapp-bug-is-making-some-android...

de6u99er 3y ago
More likely an Android exploit WhatsApp is making use of instead of doing the right thing and reporting it to Google.
- iudqnolq 3y ago
  If so that will be revealed by the ongoing investigation. I'm going to wait a bit before speculating. In general I'm skeptical of the value proposition. You can't record too much without tanking the battery life. They already have so much to target advertisements. What does a random snippet that probably doesn't even have any talking add?
  - snowe2010 3y ago
    > You can't record too much without tanking the battery life. Is that an Android thing? I use Merlin to listen to birds and I can record for hours and only lose 20-30%.
    - iudqnolq 3y ago
      depending on what you mean by hours that sounds like significant battery drain compared to screen off and asleep?
      - snowe2010 3y ago
        I mean it’s still recording with the screen off and I’m also using gps for tracking. For hours I mean like 4-5. I don’t think that’s significant at all. You would hardly notice it if you were actually using your phone.
        iudqnolq 3y ago
        Huh. I see a very significant drop in battery life if I use gps for tracking. My phone would last for days with the screen off, airplane mode, and no apps running in the background. Add tracking and it lasts maybe 10 hours. (I pay attention to this because it's a factor in determining how many battery packs to take backpacking)
  - georgeplusplus 3y ago
    >>> can't record too much without tanking the battery life I disagree, a cellphone's microphone is a passive component don't see why this would affect battery life in a big way.

squarefoot 3y ago

> If WhatsApp would listen all the time, or for even a minute, the battery consumption would go very high. Doesn't seem feasible. Regardless if it's true or not, should WhatsApp or any other app spy on the user by using the microphone in the background, the "safe" (from their POV) way to do that would be to tap into the audio signal, save it somewhere at low bitrate while removing silent parts, then wait when the user starts an update or any network/cpu intensive job and compress+transmit it in the background. No need to keep the CPU at high load 100% of the time.