Your Samsung smartphone is sharing photos without your permission

boing
21

I don’t have it but then I have an older phone that complains about space after 2 apps are installed.

22

now I have to awkwardly make eye contact with friends and try to gauge through clumsy queries if they know something I don’t . um hey nice weather hey … hear about that samsung messenger hack … oh you have …well I hear it also sends other peoples nude photos and overlaps your face on them … weird huh not that that would worry me or anything … why are looking at me funny?

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23

I’ve taken pictures of awkward-to-reach plumbing with my phone too, but it was the copper pipes behind the laundry room sink.

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24

If I get a Samsung phone and start taking pictures will that then add people to my contact list? Might be a new way to find friends!

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25

I had a Galaxy S2 and loved it. Then I had a Galaxy S3 and hated it and have never purchased a Samsung phone since. Every once in a while when I’ve been in the market for a phone, I’ve checked out whatever Samsung’s latest model is, but they all seem to have the same flaws. It seems like that at some point between the release of the S2 and the release of the S3, Samsung’s philosophy as to the best way to get customer loyalty shifted from “create a good product that gives the user what they want” to “trap users by jamming our proprietary bloatware down their throat and then and siphoning up as much of their data as we can”.

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I’m wondering whether it hasn’t been reported on other (i.e. older) Samsung phones due to their own limitations: I know that on the Galaxy S7 S5, Samsung Messages is unable to send any photo (and presumably, anything else via MMS) if the size is >1MB. After a minute (or more) it just says unable to send. I know that when I’ve tried to send pictures, sometimes I can’t because the photo’s too large. Presumably, this same limitation would stop any photo that large from being accidentally/surreptitiously sent.

EDIT: According to my son, who knows about such stuff:

  1. It gets around that by breaking up the image into multiple messages, but…
  2. My phone (S5) is too old, anyway, and
  3. One is better off with the afoermentioned Android Messages app. (:ballot_box_with_check: Done)
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28

I’m starting to look at cell phones as a liability. I need one for my job. If I didn’t have my job I’d destroy my phone.

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29

I make my employers supply me with one if they want me to have one.

This kind of backfired a little, now if they are really worried about reaching me they give me two phones, an iPhone and a Windows phone. Totally not kidding, unfortunately.

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30

This article initially stated that photos were sent over SMS, but it’s unclear how the photos are being sent. It’s more likely MMS messages or SMS with a link.

A link? What does that even mean?

31

Hey, rooting can be tedious as hell, but I like to actually own my phone.

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32

Use Silence. Forked from Signal, available on f-droid and Google Play.

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33

I recently bought a Samsung S9+, my first Android phone, after years of using iPhones. One of the things I love about it is that it’s so configurable, right down to what app you use for text messaging. I quickly ditched Samsung Messages for Message+, which I prefer, but I admit I still don’t love. If anyone has a suggestion for a better SMS/MMS app that works well on a Verizon Samsung S9+, do tell.

That said, it works just fine, and I still prefer it to the iPhone messaging app.

34

Fellow S9+ owner here. I am always conflicted about Samsung stuff. Their hardware is really quite superb (the camera on the S9+ in particular, appears to be powered by witchcraft and/or alien technology), but the bloatware they keep pushing is horrifying
thank the heavens you can turn it all off.

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35

Oh dear. Now I have to worry whether the alter ego of Captain Cocktastik, a superhero whose powers include discretion and confidentiality, is still secure.

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36

I’ve been a big fan of Textra, which is highly configurable (I’m a sucker for color customization) and consistently rates among the top (if not the top) SMS/MMS apps.

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37

Back when MMS compatibility was spottier you’d sometimes get a web link to the where the carrier temporarily hosted the content rather than have the content show up directly in the messaging app. My experience anyway.

38

But why would I buy a smartphone I have to root to be happy with, when I can just buy another model from another manufacturer that I can be happy with right away?

39

Can you buy a model that is either a) not locked into apple’s ecosystem that you pay a premium for or b) a model that does not come with google services baked in? Not to mention the manufacturer’s bloat/spyware that comes pre-installed on android devices that is unable to be uninstalled. If yes then i would like to know because there have been attempts like firefox os that have failed.

ETA: Oh, and i want a removable battery and a standard headphone socket damn it!

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40

As an iPhone user, it’s always seemed strange to me that Android apps will ask for every permission under the sun. Why does your news app need access to your call history? Why does your coupon app need access to your contacts? Why does a word game need access to your microphone?

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