Samsung bug causes phones to text photos to random contacts
- 6 years ago
WASHINGTON — Have a Samsung? Has it been sending texts and photos by itself?
As first reported by Gizmodo, Samsung users are complaining online of a new bug, which causes phones like the Galaxy S9 and S9+ to send users' stored photos to people on their contacts list without permission.
Those who have been affected say evidence of the photo sharing did not appear on the Samsung messages app, but were recorded on phone carrier logs.
Many of the complaints have been from T-Mobile subscribers, leading to speculation that the bug was triggered by the carrier's RCS or Rich Communication Services update, which adds features like GIF support, video, location and file sharing to improve texting.
While Samsung is still looking into the problem, there are two temporary fixes. Users can revoke Samsung Messages' permissions to access storage, or switch to a different texting app.
The fixes may be a pain for some, but until Samsung rolls out a real solution, it's either this or sending out your entire camera roll for friends and family to see.
As first reported by Gizmodo, Samsung users are complaining online of a new bug, which causes phones like the Galaxy S9 and S9+ to send users' stored photos to people on their contacts list without permission.
Those who have been affected say evidence of the photo sharing did not appear on the Samsung messages app, but were recorded on phone carrier logs.
Many of the complaints have been from T-Mobile subscribers, leading to speculation that the bug was triggered by the carrier's RCS or Rich Communication Services update, which adds features like GIF support, video, location and file sharing to improve texting.
While Samsung is still looking into the problem, there are two temporary fixes. Users can revoke Samsung Messages' permissions to access storage, or switch to a different texting app.
The fixes may be a pain for some, but until Samsung rolls out a real solution, it's either this or sending out your entire camera roll for friends and family to see.