Was email app hijacked on my Galaxy S7? Forced to change settings :-(

[LaurieDutch]

Today the email app on our phones was a different color (bright red instead of orange) and there was a Notification saying we had to update the settings to get it to work. It wanted us to "Allow" phone calls through email. If we selected "Deny," the app would not work. The Notification was in somewhat poor English which made us suspicious. We eventually selected "Allow" and the email came in, but we also started getting a lot of spam phone calls and wonder if this is a coincidence or if the app was somehow hijacked. Any info appreciated!

 

[Cuteness Overload]

The email app did get updated officially (I checked on Google Play) to have the updated S8-style icon. It does indeed need phone permission to work properly now, for reasons unknown.

The spam phone calls are probably a coincidence and you might want to check for any other possible causes; I received no such spam.

 

[anon(238680)]

Go to Settings, Apps and find whatever email app you're using. Remove permissions and reboot your phone and see if the spam is gone.

 

[LaurieDutch]

The email app did get updated officially (I checked on Google Play) to have the updated S8-style icon. It does indeed need phone permission to work properly now, for reasons unknown.

The spam phone calls are probably a coincidence and you might want to check for any other possible causes; I received no such spam.

Good to know that the email app got updated. Did your icon change color too (to red)?

Thanks for letting me know you didn't start getting junk calls. Yesterday 3 unwanted calls came from unknown numbers; so far no others after that. Fingers crossed that it was just a coincidence.

Thanks.

 

[LaurieDutch]

Go to Settings, Apps and find whatever email app you're using. Remove permissions and reboot your phone and see if the spam is gone.

I found where to do this. If I remove Permissions and then later want to add some or all of them back, would that be by tapping in Permissions again and perhaps a list of permission options appears?

Thanks.

Thank you.