have you noticed that the microphone of your device is activated mysteriously in the background while you use the app? If so, you’re not the only one. Many WhatsApp users have reported this issue in recent days. Could they be listening to us while we sleep?
WhatsApp is a well-known app that encrypt messages to make sure no one can read them. This feature is designed to protect user privacy. However, there have been issues in the past regarding user privacy on WhatsApp. One such problem is that the app shares user information, such as phone number, device information, location, and contacts, with its parent company Meta.
WhatsApp listen while you sleep
A Twitter engineer made a post showing a screenshot of his device and claimed that WhatsApp was accessing the devices microphone without his permission. This publication has raised concerns about the possible use of the device’s microphone by the app in the background, even when the app is not being used actively.
Engineer Foad Dabiri claimed that the app was constantly using his device’s microphone. While sleeping and since he woke up at 6 am This post has raised questions about what is really going on with privacy on WhatsApp. Among them Elon Musk:
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
WhatsApp cannot be trusted https://t.co/3gdNxZOLLy
May 9, 2023 • 18:07
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WhatsApp has acknowledged having contacted the Twitter engineer who posted the problem with his pixel phone in the last 24 hours. According to the company, the problem is due to a bug in android that provides wrong information in the user privacy panel. WhatsApp has asked Google to investigate and resolve the issue.
Furthermore, the messaging app has emphasized that users have full control over their microphone settings and that the app only accesses the microphone when a user is making a call or recording a voice memo or a video. Furthermore, these communications are protected by end-to-end encryption, which means that WhatsApp cannot listen to them.
Foad Dabiri
@foaddabiri
WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6AM (and that’s just a part of the timeline!) What’s going on? https://t.co/pNIfe4VlHV
May 06, 2023 • 16:32
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Avoid being spied on
While some believe that it could be a bug, others think that it has happened too many times to be a simple glitch. When an application accesses the microphone of an Android device, a message appears. green icon in the upper right corner of the screen. By touching this icon, more details can be seen, including which app is using the camera or microphone. Additionally, users can select the app name in the popup panel to go to that app’s permissions page and restrict access to the camera or microphone on that device.
On Apple devices, the orange dot works similar to the green dot on Android, added as a way to tell if an app is accessing the microphone on an iPhone or iPad.
Some users have proposed possible solutions to the WhatsApp background microphone issue. One of them is reboot device, as this might help bring the app back to its normal state. Another suggestion is to tap the notification shortcut to access the microphone to turn it off and then turn it back on. In this way, the application is expected to stop using the microphone in the background.