Google clarifies WhatsApp privacy issue was due to an Android bug

WhatsApp bug on Android devices

These privacy notifications are normal but the problem was that they started appearing even when the camera or microphone wasn’t in use. This suggested that WhatsApp was accessing the camera and microphone without the user’s permission. Now Google has clarified that this was actually due to an Android bug that affected a “limited number of WhatsApp users.” 

In a tweet via its Android Developers account, Google said that the bug “produced erroneous privacy indicators and notifications in the Android Privacy Dashboard.” Android users who have been affected by this bug can update their WhatsApp, and it should fix this issue. 

This issue was first raised a couple of weeks back by Twitter engineer Foad Dabiri, who shared a screenshot of WhatsApp’s microphone activity on his Pixel 7 Pro. WhatsApp responded to the tweet saying that they’ve been in touch with the Twitter engineer for the same. The Meta-owned company also suggested that the bug is actually on Android’s Privacy Dashboard which is mis-attributing information. WhatsApp said that they’ve asked Google to investigate and remediate the issue. 

The issue seems to have been finally addressed and fixed. Google also made it a point to thank WhatsApp for their partnership, and also apologised to users for any confusion this issue might have made. WhatsApp is the most popular and widely used messaging app. It’s also often riddled with privacy issues so it’s no surprise that something like this caused some kind of havoc among users.