In today’s globally linked society, messaging apps have assimilated into our daily lives, promoting communication and connecting people. With over 2 billion active users globally, WhatsApp’s widely used messaging app has amassed a sizable user base. However, recent claims of eavesdropping on private chats have prompted severe worries about WhatsApp users’ security and privacy.
WhatsApp has gained popularity due to its end-to-end encryption, which gives users a sense of protection and anonymity. It was practically impossible for other parties to intercept or decode the communications exchanged between users on WhatsApp. And the credit goes to the encryption’s guarantee that they were only available to the intended receivers. However, the recent accusations of eavesdropping on private conversations have cast doubt on WhatsApp’s commitment to user privacy.
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Fod Dabiri, Twitter’s director of engineering, reportedly claimed WhatsApp had been accessing his phone’s microphone while he was sleeping. Elon Musk further amplified these concerns by stating that WhatsApp cannot be trusted.
WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6AM (and that’s just a part of the timeline!) What’s going on? pic.twitter.com/pNIfe4VlHV
— Foad Dabiri (@foaddabiri) May 6, 2023
Indian government has also declared an inquiry into any privacy violations by WhatsApp
However, WhatsApp has determined that the problem stems from an Android fault. It resulted in inaccurate data showing up on privacy dashboards.
In a formal statement, WhatsApp said that it had spoken with the Twitter engineer and requested that Google look into the issue and fix it. The messaging service has also claimed that all calls and texts sent through its system are end-to-end encrypted. It makes sure that no one can view or hear them. WhatsApp has also highlighted that users have full control over their microphone settings, so they can change them.
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Since the controversy emerged, there has been a growing curiosity among users seeking ways to safeguard their privacy and prevent potential eavesdropping through their device’s microphones.
How to change the microphone settings in WhatsApp?
To safeguard your privacy, you need to change your microphone settings. So, to change microphone settings in WhatsApp, you need to follow the below-mentioned steps:
- Access the settings app on your smartphone.
- Scroll through the options until you find the privacy section, then tap on it to proceed.
- Look for a permission manager or a similar option within the privacy settings.
- Within the permission manager, locate the microphone setting and tap on it.
- In the list of apps that appears, search for WhatsApp.
- Upon selecting WhatsApp, a new screen titled “microphone access for this app” will appear.
- Within this screen, you will encounter three choices: allow only while using the app, ask every time, and don’t allow.
- To maintain control over WhatsApp’s microphone accessibility, you can opt for either the ask every time or don’t allow” option.
Note: By following these steps, you can easily adjust the microphone settings for WhatsApp according to your preferences. However, selecting Don’t Allow will disable your ability to send voice notes and make calls using WhatsApp. Therefore, I would recommend choosing the ask every time option.
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