Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6?

[AC Question]

Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

For those who have samsung 6s, can you go into your "file" folder and check your audio files? Do you find a list of voice recordings (.amr) that you you never actually recorded? I found several of these files which appear to have been recorded without my knowledge of random conversations. Just curious to see how this could happen and if anyone else is experiencing it. I checked my husbands phone and he too has similar files.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

Welcome to Android Central! I don't have an S6, but just wondering--do you have a shortcut for the Voice Recorder anywhere on a homescreen? If so, perhaps it gets inadvertently pressed if the phone wakes up in your pocket or purse.

 

[Ctinamick]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

Thank you for your response. Definitely not inadvertently pressing "voice recorder". When u use voice recorder it is very obvious on your screen. Whats usual about it, it the voice recordings show up about a day later in that file view. I am checking it constantly since I found these recordings. Also, most of these recordings are happening when no one is close to the phone.....the recordings are distant. I will most likely perform a factory reset and may be bring phone to verizon store. Any other insight to this issue would be helpful. I don't even have a lot of apps downloaded on this phone, but perhaps one of these apps just randomly voice records.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

That's very strange. I don't have an explanation for it, and a factory reset seems to be a reasonable thing to do. Before the reset, though, you could also boot into Safe Mode and see if the recordings continue. Safe Mode disables all 3rd party apps, so that can help narrow things down for you. https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-21007

Can you identify these conversations as definitely from your environment, or could they be random recordings from elsewhere that are somehow downloading to your phone?

 

[Ctinamick]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

Thanks again for your response. I didn't know about the safe mode option. I will try that! Yes, I can make out the conversations, they have been between me and friends/family. My husband has the same phone and there were these voice records in his file folder too...random conversations between business customers and us. We erased them (over 20 recordings) and a couple days later, there were more. You can't help but to think someone is listening to you all the time or even worse....looking ar you thru the camera! When I use the phone, I always tilt the camera away from me now....this whole thing has made me crazy.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

Hey, you're not alone ... http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...-galaxy-s6-what-am-i-hitting-make-happen.html. Still no explanation, though.:-\

 

[Ctinamick]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

It helps to know I am not alone thank you so much for guiding me to that post. I may reply to the message to see if there was an update on his/her end. Thanks again!

 

[Leslie Hatcher]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

I checked and I don't have any. My first suggestion is you have an app that is doing this. I would Def try booting in safe mode and testing to see.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[AlphaTango414]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

Are you going to My Files app then straight to the audio tab? If so, go further down to device storage. Find the files and see what folder they end up being in. If it's an app causing it, it's a good chance the folder will be named or closely named similar to the app.

 

[Clarky40]

The exact same thing is happening to me. The files are in this folder: /storage/emulated/0/VZMedia and are always named "recordingxxxxxxxxxx.amr", where xxx is a random appearing number. I also have a new s6.

 

[Mrsb2015]

Same exact thing here as with Clarky40, says the same thing. New s6 here as well.

 

[sasnak88]

Interesting note after finding this forum for unauthorized recordings. My wife's S6 is doing the same thing. I called Verizon and within 5 minutes of explaining to them what I found they called Samsung and transferred me to Samsung. If you go into "Application Manager" then swipe over to "All" scroll down to "Voice Recorder" and select. The scroll up and then below "Permissions" you'll see "Record Audio". Tap on the microphone icon to the left of "Record Audio" and a box will come up saying: "Allows the app to record audio with the microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation." I'm on the phone with Samsung now and they automatically want to do a reset. I told them that before I do a reset I will go to the Verizon store and get a new phone and look on that phone for the same disclaimer. Because if it's on a new phone, factory installed, then a reset will not work. Also when I told the people at Samsung what I was seeing, they looked it up on their side and it got quiet and I heard someone say "Oh wow". I'll update this post as I find out more info.

 

[recDNA]

Re: Unathorized Voice recording Samsung S6

Mine are all in the visual voicemail folder. No conversations just voicemails.

 

[wehjr68]

I just got a Galaxy Note 5 a month or so back and it's doing the same thing! It will record at totally random times from 2 minutes to 49 minutes! I tried calling Verizon and they didn't have a clue. It is NOT something I'm doing. All of them are the .amr files and they all appear in the "VZMedia" file which leads me to believe it has something to do with the recording feature in the Verizon Message+ app which I use and really like over the Samsung message app. This is the only folder they go into. If it was recording from the "Voice Recorder" it would be a .m4a file and would be in the Voice Recorder folder.

 

[Ctinamick]

This is very frustrating. I called verizon and went to a verizon store. Both were no help. We did perform a force stop to both voice recorder and something else, but it continues. Verizon connected me with samsung, again no help. Samsung suggested the safe mode option and to wait and see, but who can live safemode? I do every thing with this phone. I did it for a day and I became aggravated and as some people know, these recordings are at random and u never know when one is going to pop up. My last one was for 46 mins! Not sure what to do? When I am involved in certain conversation, I have actually stopped mid convo and put my phone in another room in case it's recording me! It's changing the way I live my life....

I can confidently say, I did uninstall Waze, as I thought it might be the culprit, but recordings continued.

Any other suggestions would be helpful

 

[bbtkd]

The permission that says it can record without permission is not in itself nefarious. This is probably so that another app can utilize it to record without you having to give permission each time. If there are recordings occurring then another app is triggering it. Still not necessarily nefarious - could be malfunctioning. If these files are being transferred elsewhere - then we should worry. Certainly could be a battery life issue, but we need to know what is triggering it and if they are being transferred.

 

[Bermuda_Man]

I've been using my S6 for some time now, I've searched my phone using several different methods (including my pc) and can't find any .amr files anywhere. I do a lot with my phone and use almost every feature on it, including voice recording. That being said, one of the first things I do is disable as much bloatware from both Samsung and Verizon as possible. It looks like I've disabled the app causing this as I do not have the /storage/emulated/0/VZMedia folder others have mentioned. Over the years I've found that using the Application Manager and the following steps give the best/cleanest app uninstall or disabling.
1. Force Stop the app
2. Clear the cache
3. Clear the data
4. Disable/Uninstall the app

You might be able to disable the VZW apps one by one and watching for the files to determine which app is causing the problem.

 

[Elkhorn]

Just found this today - trying to figure out the pattern and the app that cause it. You are not alone.

 

[Unauthorizedvoice]

Apps
Settings
Applications
Application Manager
Find and select S VOICE (note you may have to pan left to select the 'ALL' column which is to the right of DOWNLOADED & RUNNING).

S VOICE permissions are spooky, does everyone see this... example:

Record Audio-

... allows apps to record audio at anytime without your permission

Your Social Inormation-

This permission allows apps to save your call log data, and malicious apps may share call log data without your knowledge.

My random recordings are verizon amr files, found in MUSIC.

Disabled S Voice only to have it turned back on by an app. No clue which app.

Btw, there is no option for removing Svoice, I guess it's "built in." Also, because the files show up randomly you never know it in real time. After a week or two I'll have 6-12 recordings appear in music, all at once. Trying to determine which app started 10 days ago, impossible?

 

[Corey R1]

Iam having the same problem, it happening at least 3 to 4 times a day during random times. I am also getting WORD.doc in my folders as well. The word docs are being created at 2 3 and 4am, when I am not using the phone. I'm not sure what's going on but I will be going back to my LG phone until this matter is resolved.