This week, Twitter employee Foad Dabiri noticed that WhatsApp on his Google Pixel smartphone had been using its microphone all night. This can be read from the Android privacy setting, which keeps track of which apps are using the microphone.

The discovery sparked alarming discussions on Twitter. “I saw the same thing, and noticed that I keep getting commercials for things I’ve discussed out loud,” said one user.

We believe this is due to a bug in the Android version. WhatsApp responded From the official Twitter account. “As a result, this is incorrectly stated on our privacy dashboard. We have asked Google to fix this.”

“full control”

According to WhatsApp, users have “full control over microphone settings.” The maker of the app ensures that the microphone is only used during a phone call or when recording a voice message. The encryption used ensures that WhatsApp cannot listen to those recordings.

The problem started a month ago I noticed by the WABetaInfo website, which attributed it to a software bug at the time.

Restarting the phone will help solve the problem. Pixel phones and Samsung smartphones seem to be particularly affected.