WhatsApp says unauthorized microphone use is an Android bug

since last weekend WhatsApp users claim that the app activates the microphone of Android smartphones without proper authorization. According to the news on social networks, the messenger activates the voice recording even when the application is not used.

The breach was spotted by Foad Dabiri, an engineer at Twitter. “What’s going on WhatsApp has been using my microphone in the background since I was asleep and woke up at 6am (and it’s just part of the timeline!)?” privacy panel.

WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background since I was asleep and woke up at 6am (and that’s just part of the timeline!) What’s going on? pic.twitter.com/pNIfe4VlHV

— Foad Dabiri (@foaddabiri) May 6, 2023

After Dabiri, other users also reported the same issue with WhatsApp. All the people involved used devices running Android 13 operating system on models like Pixel 7 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S23 and S22 Ultra.

Twitter’s CEO, Elon Musk, took advantage of the loophole to poke Mark Zuckerberg’s company. “WhatsApp is unreliable,” the billionaire said on Twitter.

WhatsApp cannot be trusted https://t.co/3gdNxZOLLy

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023

whatsapp reply

After the backlash on social media WhatsApp made a comment confirming that the security breach was actually a bug in the Privacy Panel of Google’s operating system.. According to the team, devices may be misinterpreting WhatsApp activations.

“We believe this is a bug in Android that incorrectly ascribes information on your privacy dashboard, and we’ve asked Google to investigate and fix it,” WhatsApp said.

“Users have full control over microphone settings. Once allowed, WhatsApp only accesses the microphone when a user is on a call or recording a voice or video note – and even then, that communication is protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp can’t hear them”.

To get rid of the problem, some users affected by the breach claim that restarting their mobile is sufficient.