Seriously Samsumg phone sending text random pictures to people on my contacts

[Oscar Maradiaga]

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-random-text-messages,news-27547.html

If this happens on everyone who has a Galaxy s9 or plus it would be crazyso far it says T-mobile has anyone been affectes by this

 

[anon(5719825)]

I just read an article on this today. The article thought it might be due to T-Mobile testing this new texting profile that will be released soon for many phones.

The article mentions that the only way to avoid this for now is to disable the default Samsung messaging app and download an alternate app in the play store.

 

[Almeuit]

Wow that's kind of terrifying.

 

[SDTRMG]

I've download android message for now, I like samsung messages and I'm in canada but I'd rather not risk it.

 

[me23brown]

Everytime I try to disable storage in the samsung messages app it kills the app and i can't use it. Is this happening to anyone else?

 

[Gav508]

Well I'm just wondering what kind of pictures you people have on your phone that your scared of accidentally sharing.

 

[anon(5719825)]

Well I'm just wondering what kind of pictures you people have on your phone that your scared of accidentally sharing.

It doesn't matter what kind of pictures that people have. They should be able to keep whatever they want on their own phone. In some cases, people have reported that EVERY picture in their camera roll had been sent to random contacts. That can cause all kinds of problems.

 

[Oscar Maradiaga]

It doesn't matter what kind of pictures that people have. They should be able to keep whatever they want on their own phone. In some cases, people have reported that EVERY picture in their camera roll had been sent to random contacts. That can cause all kinds of problems.

Its true i dont want to send all my pictures not they are bad to anyone on my contacts randomly for no reason especially when i have over 800 pictures on my sd card

 

[djrakowski]

I don't take embarrassing photos, so that's not what bothers me... the fact is, these are MY photos, and I didn't consent to Samsung transmitting them to other people without my consent. The fact that there's no evidence on the phone makes it even worse. So yeah, I'm not happy, but at least we have alternatives in the Android world (I've switched to Android Messages).

 

[djrakowski]

Everytime I try to disable storage in the samsung messages app it kills the app and i can't use it. Is this happening to anyone else?

Yeah, it won't let you disable storage access and continue to use the app. You'll have to download an alternative from the Play Store (and I recommend Android Messages), set it as your default messaging app, then turn off those privileges again.

 

[Morty2264]

Well I'm just wondering what kind of pictures you people have on your phone that your scared of accidentally sharing.

In my case, it's a whack load of cat photos; but it's more the privacy breach that's the issue here, not the content of the photos. Phones are like wallets - they're private and their contents have a right to be hidden from others unless the user deems it appropriate.

 

[robber]

For Everyone switching to android messages keep in mind that they just launched the ability to send messages via a web browser. Worth the switch in itself.

 

[Almeuit]

Well I'm just wondering what kind of pictures you people have on your phone that your scared of accidentally sharing.

If I had a Samsung it wouldn't be the worry about what pictures -- I just don't share every picture I take with my phone with every contact. I know it seems people do that .. which most do on Facebook .. but they are willingly doing it.

 

[Morty2264]

If I had a Samsung it wouldn't be the worry about what pictures -- I just don't share every picture I take with my phone with every contact. I know it seems people do that .. which most do on Facebook .. but they are willingly doing it.

Exactly. It's all about the breach of privacy and that your choice "to share or not to share" (that sounds a little Shakespearean) has been taken away from you.

 

[stmax]

Wondering how the actually share occurs. Is it via a link? My phone craps out just trying to string 3 pics together via MMS.

 

[Abbers727]

Mine seemed to share a photo to someone that isn't even on my contacts... because all that showed up was a phone number. And they were like, "Hi . Please delete your photos." Sprint is my carrier.

I installed the Textra app and I'm using it as my default text message app.

 

[Morty2264]

Mine seemed to share a photo to someone that isn't even on my contacts... because all that showed up was a phone number. And they were like, "Hi . Please delete your photos." Sprint is my carrier.

I installed the Textra app and I'm using it as my default text message app.

That's creepy! I'm so sorry that happened to you!

 

[arunma]

Hi all. This actually happened to me before I read about the bug. I regularly share Samsung Health workout summaries with a friend of mine. It's always via WhatsApp, meaning that a copy of the photo is saved in my WhatsApp photos folder. Last week I got a text from a DIFFERENT friend asking "uh, why did you just send me a heart rate trace?" There was no record of this message being sent on my text thread with him in Samsung Messages, but when I saw him a week later he showed me his phone, and indeed I had sent a Samsung Health workout summary image to him.

This is downright scary. I don't have any "sensitive" photos on my phone, but if my boss randomly gets a photo of my wife or something, that's pretty awkward. I'm surprised Samsung isn't taking this more seriously. This is one of the worst data privacy issues I've ever seen in the tech world. The worst part is that you don't even know when a photo has been sent. I have no clue if Samsung Messages has sent my entire photo gallery to half the contacts in my phone.

Obviously, as soon as I read about this I disabled Samsung Messages and installed Android Messages. It doesn't support T-Mobile advanced messaging, which sucks. But it has a web interface, which is great.

 

[bhatech]

Agree with most people, this is downright violation of privacy irrespective of what kind of photos you have. Can't believe some people are saying not a big deal.

 

[Morty2264]

Agree with most people, this is downright violation of privacy irrespective of what kind of photos you have. Can't believe some people are saying not a big deal.

It's absolutely a big deal. I can't believe it has been going on for even a few days. This kind of breach is a worst nightmare for many users. Imagine my boss potentially getting 200 cat photos; or family photos? Regardless of content, you don't want your choices taken away from you.