Bug that allowed WhatsApp access to Android phone's mic fixed by Google

A report published last month said that some Android users were impacted by a bug that allowed WhatsApp to constantly access the device's microphone. Google has now resolved the issue.

The tech titan stated in a tweet, “A recent Android bug affecting a limited number of WhatsApp users produced erroneous privacy indicators and notifications in the Android Privacy Dashboard."

“Users can now update their WhatsApp app to address this issue. We thank WhatsApp for their partnership and apologize for any confusion this bug may have caused users." it added.

Twitter engineer Foad Dabiri in a tweet last month said “WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6 AM (and that's just a part of the timeline!) What's going on?".

Elon Musk then responded to his post, saying that WhatsApp cannot be trusted.

WhatsApp stated at the time that it was a "bug on Android that misattributes information in their Privacy Dashboard" rather than the app accessing the microphone when it was not needed.

Now that Google has fixed the bug, it is advisable for WhatsApp Android users to update their app.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is rolling out a new security feature that will automatically silence incoming calls from unknown numbers. The feature is dubbed 'silence unknown callers' by the platform.

WhatsApp announced the feature in a blog post, saying that 'silence unknown callers' is intended to give its users more privacy and control over their incoming calls. For added security, the new feature will automatically screen out spam, scams, and calls from unknown numbers.

Users who enable the feature will not be disturbed by calls from unknown contacts, but the messaging app will still display the call in the notification area and inside the app. This means users won't miss a call from an unknown person — the feature will just reduce unwanted disturbance from strangers by preventing the phone from ringing.