No, WhatsApp Is Not Secretly Listening In: Google Clarifies That It Was Just A Bug

Alarm bells went ringing recently after a privacy feature in the Android operating system showed that WhatsApp was constantly using the phone's microphone, even when the app's calling feature was not in use. Now, Alphabet Inc.-owned GOOGL Google has acknowledged that it was just an Android bug.

What Happened: It was recently discovered that Meta Platforms Inc.-owned META WhatsApp constantly used the microphone on Android smartphones. Google has now confirmed that it was a bug in the operating system.

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The clarification should help assuage users concerned about their privacy and should also confirm that WhatsApp is not listening in on its users.

Responding to a user who pointed out this issue, WhatsApp said it had contacted Google to investigate the matter.

Benzinga can also independently confirm that this issue was indeed present in an older version of WhatsApp, but it seems to have been fixed in the more recent updates.

Now, Google has acknowledged the problem and advised users to update to the latest version of WhatsApp for a fix.

Why It Is Important: Google launched the privacy dashboard with the Android 12 update in 2021. This dashboard lets users check which apps have recently used permissions like camera, storage, microphone, and location.

False positives – like in this case – can reduce the trust of people in the impacted apps and the privacy dashboard itself.

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