A Twitter developer posted screenshots of the WhatsApp privacy dashboard, in which the app is seen to give false warnings about its use of the user’s microphone while he is asleep. When Elon Musk replied to the tweet, calling WhatsApp’s access to microphones “weird,” the situation became more heated.
Soon after, Meta and Google acknowledged that the inaccurate microphone usage data is due to a fault in the Android OS.
Fortunately, there are a few methods you can use to check if WhatsApp is using your phone’s microphone or camera. You just need to stick to a few basic instructions.
- Required Device Operating System Android 12 or Later
- Access to a working WhatsApp account that includes a microphone
Ways to determine if WhatsApp is secretly recording audio
Android 12’s launch saw the introduction of a new Privacy dashboard within the operating system, where users can view detailed information about the apps they’ve installed and the data they’ve used. Using this Privacy dashboard, we can check if the app is listening to us while we’re not using it.
But first, make sure the upper right corner of the screen isn’t flashing Green at you. This suggests that an application is making use of the device’s microphone or camera. If this describes you, then you should focus even more intently.
Meanwhile, here’s how to determine whether or not the application is actively listening to your microphone.
- In addition, you’ll need to make sure you haven’t made any calls, recorded any voice notes, or updated your status with any voice messages in WhatsApp.
- To adjust your Android’s security settings, go to Settings > Privacy & security.
- Just click the Privacy button down there.
- If you click the microphone icon, you can get a log of every app that has ever made use of the microphone.
- Now you can see if WhatsApp has been listening in when it wasn’t supposed to. If you answered yes, then WhatsApp is probably safe from the current problem. But if it’s picking up sound via the microphone, that’s an issue.
What to do if you notice WhatsApp is secretly recording audio
The obvious first step is to prevent the app from accessing your microphone. To do so, open the app drawer and navigate to WhatsApp before turning off the microphone. This will save your app from getting unwanted recordings.
To read our article about “iMessages on Windows; how to send and receive them” click here.