Some Samsung users have reported that their phones are sending random photos or even whole galleries of images to contacts without their permission. If that wasn’t bad enough, users had no knowledge or evidence of the mass photo sharing in Samsung messages and were only notified by the contact with which the images were shared. The users also reported that the issue is exclusive to Samsung’s default texting app Samsung Messages, with speculation that the bug was introduced within the recent RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging updates.
Samsung released a statement stating that they are “aware of the reports regarding this matter” and that their “technical teams are looking into it”. However, a fix has not yet been released.
Which devices are affected?:
- According to posts on Samsung’s official support boards the devices affected appear to be the Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 Plus and Galaxy Note 8.
- However, it’s unclear as to whether other models may be affected.
How can you prevent your device from being affected?:
Here are two fixes to use if you are worried about the issue affecting your device.
- Remove app access
- Go into your app settings and remove Samsung Message’s ability to access your storage.
- This will prevent the app from being able to send anything stored on your phone, including photos.
- However, this does mean that if you do want to send photos or files through the app, you will need to restore permission in the app settings again.
- Stop using the app
- Ensure the app’s access has been removed (see above), and then simply stop using the app until Samsung says the issue has been resolved.
- Switch to using a third-party messaging app instead.
