Android secretly records / sends audio?

[spmkde]

A friend of mine mentioned that android smartphones secretly listen in on what's going on around them and then send the data to Google et.al. I have searched the net and couldn't find any valuable information.

Can someone share their knowledge on this security topic? Is this real?

 

[hallux]

Any time there's an internet-connected microphone nearby that doesn't have a physical cord you can remove there's a risk that it's recording audio and transmitting it someplace. Is that always true? No. Is Android "always listening"? If you have the options to call Assistant hands-free enabled, it absolutely is. Can assistant send audio to the cloud? Sure, but it's supposed to only be for processing when you call assistant for something.

iOS isn't immune to this. A co-worker was just telling me today that he and his wife were having a discussion about a product, her iPhone was next her with the screen off. She then picks up her phone, opens Facebook and BOOM - ad for the exact product they were talking about. Yes, HE uses Android but he doesn't have a Facebook account and it was HER iPhone that this was seen on...

 

[L0n3N1nja]

Basically anything with a mic and a smart assistant is always listening, this includes iOS Siri, Amazon Alexa, Googles Assistant, Samsungs Bixby, Microsoft's Cortona, etc.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! This is always worth reviewing: https://safety.google/privacy/data/. Google is very transparent about what data they collect and what they do with it.

 

[spmkde]

Any time there's an internet-connected microphone nearby that doesn't have a physical cord you can remove there's a risk that it's recording audio and transmitting it someplace. Is that always true? No. Is Android "always listening"? If you have the options to call Assistant hands-free enabled, it absolutely is. Can assistant send audio to the cloud? Sure, but it's supposed to only be for processing when you call assistant for something.

iOS isn't immune to this. A co-worker was just telling me today that he and his wife were having a discussion about a product, her iPhone was next her with the screen off. She then picks up her phone, opens Facebook and BOOM - ad for the exact product they were talking about. Yes, HE uses Android but he doesn't have a Facebook account and it was HER iPhone that this was seen on...

This is scary. Thank you.

 

[Mike Dee]

They can't "secretly record" because we know about it.
My life is boring and there is nothing they could overhear that they could possibly want to know about.