3 ms·

Your phone notifies you when an app accesses the microphone. If this is happening so much, how is it not blatantly obvious?

alyandon 3y ago
Android phones that are 8 major versions out of date because the OEM won't support them probably don't have that feature.
- ehsankia 3y ago
  8 major versions, that is surely less than 5% of the Android population. I'm sure the security flaws in those non-updated phones is far more serious than the lack of microphone indicator.
  - alyandon 3y ago
    I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek with the 8. However, it is just as valid to talk about unpatched security flaws.
  - onli 3y ago
    According to https://source.android.com/docs/core/permissions/privacy-indicators https://source.android.com/docs/core/permissions/privacy-ind..., the microphone indicator is only in there since Android 12. Android 12 and 13 cover only 50% of Android phones, according to https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/android/mobile-tablet/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/android/m.... There were some "access to the microphone is restricted for background apps" changes earlier, reported for Android 9. But I wouldn't rely on them, and even if those restriction always worked, that still made ~10% of Android phones vulnerable.
    - mdale 3y ago
      It seems highly inefficient to listen to users 24/7 given the other more specific signals that are available. Rather have a transaction data point around everything someone has purchased then what they talk about.
    - ohgodplsno 3y ago
      For context, this is the worldwide stats that Google reports: https://imgur.com/a/mqBE8wM https://imgur.com/a/mqBE8wM 30% on Android 13 is absolutely not believable, both from personal experiences and data collected.
  - Aeolun 3y ago
    Ice Cream Sandwich was the best android, and nobody can tell me otherwise.
    - Pxtl 3y ago
      Agreed. Android 4 was peak Android. Most of my favorite Android games are from that era and very few of them run anymore. I wish Google either make a sandboxed emulation layer for those old abandoned games.
      - versteegen 3y ago
        Wait... what? As someone who's always tried to target the oldest Android version I can which Google Play will still allow uploading (for a long time, Android 2.3), this is alarming. Why don't they run now? I don't actually play games on Android myself.
        Pxtl 3y ago
        No idea of what API they're hitting but basically half of my old humble library won't run anymore - they show a warning about old APIs, show the title screen, then crash to desktop. Even some old games I paid for are gone from the Play Store too. Like, I paid for Puffle Launch and it's just plain gone from my library. Edit: ahah, I was looking in the wrong spot! Its still in my "not installed" list, just not in my "family library". Either way, not compatible with any device I own.
        exikyut 3y ago
        Ah, 2011, the age of so many Angry Birds clones... I just found https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAPK https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAPK and https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAmazonAPK https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAmazonAPK (both point to each other), with a note that says that the latter generally works and the former crashes. I can verify this; on my (Android 8, 32-bit compatible) device the Play version crashes with: 08-10 14:55:03.864 25995 25995 E linker : ERROR: OOPS: 0 cannot map library 'libmono.so'. no vspace available. 08-10 14:55:03.864 25995 25995 D AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM ... 08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main 08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.disney.PuffleLaunch, PID: 25995 08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: Bad JNI version returned from JNI_OnLoad in "/data/app/com.disney.PuffleLaunch-rjdXjIyhGz7STdfxQ9xH2g==/lib/arm/libmono.so": 0 I'm always on the lookout for old interesting games, and maybe there are workarounds for the other titles in your library too. What's the list?
mike_d 3y ago
Why do you think iOS and Android now prompt for microphone usage?
- spiderice 3y ago
  iOS has prompted for microphone usage since 2013

alyandon 3y ago

Android phones that are 8 major versions out of date because the OEM won't support them probably don't have that feature.

ehsankia 3y ago
8 major versions, that is surely less than 5% of the Android population. I'm sure the security flaws in those non-updated phones is far more serious than the lack of microphone indicator.
- alyandon 3y ago
  I was being a bit tongue-in-cheek with the 8. However, it is just as valid to talk about unpatched security flaws.
- onli 3y ago
  According to https://source.android.com/docs/core/permissions/privacy-indicators https://source.android.com/docs/core/permissions/privacy-ind..., the microphone indicator is only in there since Android 12. Android 12 and 13 cover only 50% of Android phones, according to https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/android/mobile-tablet/worldwide https://gs.statcounter.com/os-version-market-share/android/m.... There were some "access to the microphone is restricted for background apps" changes earlier, reported for Android 9. But I wouldn't rely on them, and even if those restriction always worked, that still made ~10% of Android phones vulnerable.
  - mdale 3y ago
    It seems highly inefficient to listen to users 24/7 given the other more specific signals that are available. Rather have a transaction data point around everything someone has purchased then what they talk about.
  - ohgodplsno 3y ago
    For context, this is the worldwide stats that Google reports: https://imgur.com/a/mqBE8wM https://imgur.com/a/mqBE8wM 30% on Android 13 is absolutely not believable, both from personal experiences and data collected.
- Aeolun 3y ago
  Ice Cream Sandwich was the best android, and nobody can tell me otherwise.
  - Pxtl 3y ago
    Agreed. Android 4 was peak Android. Most of my favorite Android games are from that era and very few of them run anymore. I wish Google either make a sandboxed emulation layer for those old abandoned games.
    - versteegen 3y ago
      Wait... what? As someone who's always tried to target the oldest Android version I can which Google Play will still allow uploading (for a long time, Android 2.3), this is alarming. Why don't they run now? I don't actually play games on Android myself.
      - Pxtl 3y ago
        No idea of what API they're hitting but basically half of my old humble library won't run anymore - they show a warning about old APIs, show the title screen, then crash to desktop. Even some old games I paid for are gone from the Play Store too. Like, I paid for Puffle Launch and it's just plain gone from my library. Edit: ahah, I was looking in the wrong spot! Its still in my "not installed" list, just not in my "family library". Either way, not compatible with any device I own.
        exikyut 3y ago
        Ah, 2011, the age of so many Angry Birds clones... I just found https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAPK https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAPK and https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAmazonAPK https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAmazonAPK (both point to each other), with a note that says that the latter generally works and the former crashes. I can verify this; on my (Android 8, 32-bit compatible) device the Play version crashes with: 08-10 14:55:03.864 25995 25995 E linker : ERROR: OOPS: 0 cannot map library 'libmono.so'. no vspace available. 08-10 14:55:03.864 25995 25995 D AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM ... 08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main 08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.disney.PuffleLaunch, PID: 25995 08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: Bad JNI version returned from JNI_OnLoad in "/data/app/com.disney.PuffleLaunch-rjdXjIyhGz7STdfxQ9xH2g==/lib/arm/libmono.so": 0 I'm always on the lookout for old interesting games, and maybe there are workarounds for the other titles in your library too. What's the list?

mike_d 3y ago

Why do you think iOS and Android now prompt for microphone usage?

spiderice 3y ago
iOS has prompted for microphone usage since 2013