It is not surprising to send pictures through your phones these days, but what if your app is doing that all by itself without your knowledge? That seems to be the case with Samsung Galaxy phones, where its Texting app has started sending random pictures to its phone’s contacts without the user’s knowledge.
The problem surfaced few days ago when some users began to post on Reddit and later on official Samsung forums . Owners of Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S9 started complaining about how their phones out of nowhere sent several pictures from the phone gallery to contacts via SMS without their faintest knowledge. According to users, Samsung Messages seems to be the culprit in this weird operation. Users complained of a possible bug in the message app which is sending pics spontaneously to contacts.
A certain user reported of the pic being sent to his partner in the middle of the night. But for many, it could be a jeopardy in private life. The incident raises serious questions about how a mishap in app management can lead to serious consequences for mobile phone users. The idea of your private life getting shared randomly through your phone without your permission is an iffy problem today, given the fact of how important a smartphone is in our lives. We perhaps store some of the most important and confidential information of our lives in our smartphones. Now imagine it getting leaked and you are in face of unforeseen consequences. Moreover, the worst part of this Text bug is it does not seem to leave any evidence of what it sent, according to users on Reddit. This means you are in complete darkness about what has been shared through your phone and it might be too late when you come to know of it in the first place.
But what is causing this leak in Texting app? According to Samsung forum, there is a clash between Samsung Messages and RCS Universal Profile updates . The update was first rolled out for Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and later it is promised to be available for more Android devices in 2018. RCS or Rich Communication Services is intended to chuck off outdated SMS protocols and replaces it with Machine Learning algorithms to enhance typing, and media sharing over phone. But it seems the new protocols are wrongly aligned with Samsung Message application.
The issue is not only with random picture sharing but also several others, as reported by one user. After the update the app is doing most things wrongly. It is sending scheduled messages ‘prematurely’ and sometimes messages are ‘ending up in wrong threads.’ All this raises serious issues about privacy and the credibility of updates and how they should be rolled out.
After a chain of complaints from users over two days this week Samsung acknowledged of a possible bug in the Texting app but viewed them as ‘isolated events’ according to reports in media.
We know that precaution is better than cure. So, for now users can change their app permission and disable its access to your photos and personal files and instead use third party message services like WhatsApp or Android Messages to seal the loophole for now.
