cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25202993
This was Likely Recently Auto-Installed on your Phone.
This morning I noticed that an app was silently installed on my device. Android System Safetycore.
So what is this app for? Supposedly it is designed to blur any images that are sent to or from you the user.
Android Authority Article Snippet
Sensitive Content Warnings is another new Google Messages feature that Google is announcing today. It’s a feature that gives you more control over seeing and sending images that may contain nudity. Sensitive Content Warning blurs images that may contain nudity before viewing them, and it then prompts you with a “speed bump” that contains “help-finding resources and options, including to view the content.” When it’s enabled and you try to send or forward an image that may contain nudity, Google Messages will also show a “speed bump” that reminds you of the risks of sending nude imagery. - Android Authority
The feature seems to be geared towards google messages.
However why this needed to be a seperate app isn’t really known. Why not just a feature within the google messages app? Google gives no explanation.
Another Android Authority Snippet
Warnings check runs entirely on-device, it didn’t mention that it will actually be powered by an entirely separate app and not Google Messages itself. - Android Authority
Google claims it runs entirely on your phone. Whether that’s true? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
According to my device, the app can have internet access restricted to it (via phone settings) implying that the app does have internet access. Any apps that dont have internet access wouldn’t be in my settings list for restricting network access.
Here’s the developer page. Not much in terms of detail going on there.
Here is the app on Play store with its further lacking detail and currently plunging reviews. Interestingly it seems the app has many good odd sounding reviews. Furthermore, all the new reviews are very negative. The app was 3.8 this morning. Plunging.
The whole concept of the feature isn’t a bad one. However, I certainly dont wish for it to be automatically installed on my device as a seperate app. A feature that is supposedly for a messaging platform that I don’t even have activated on my device.
I removed it myself as it can be uninstalled. It doesn’t show up on play store by search, however you can look up the app link online and get a direct link to it. Which I put here.
Spyware? A helpful feature? I don’t want it on my phone anyways.
(Yes this is a repost, I hope it isn’t considered spam. Yes I did also delete the original one :/ . Goodnight 🥱!)
I swear, every time I’m tired of the limitations of AOSP I inevitably begin to bargain with my conscience, like what if I just have a sandboxed play store, what if it’s just microG, surely LineageOS has enough safeguards… and sure enough, within 24 hours one of these things pops up and I’m done with coveting the easy path.
Uninstalled. Thanks for the heads up!
Just looked and sure enough it was installed on Jan. 22.
Nothing screams “spyware” like installing an app without notice and providing no context for what it does whatsoever.
Btw this has been installed by “More than 1 Billion” devices, so if you have an Android devices the odds are pretty flipping good you have this.
Custom ROM wins again
In the play store, don’t forget to flag it as innapropriate.
Android System Safety Core is the name of the app. Found it in Settings>Apps and uninstalled on my Samsung.
Thanks! Strangely this wasn’t showing up in searches within the app store for me, but it did turn up in settings.
That’s addressed in the above post. There’s a direct link to the playstore page
The app is ASS and it blurs pictures of your ass.
I just tested it. I sent an obviously nude photo via a Google Messages text to myself. I didn’t see any speed bumps sending out or receiving and there was no blurring of the photo, so it doesn’t seem to do what the article says it does. Has anyone seen the app work as they say it does?
Just speculating, but maybe it does something like where it checks the image against a CSAM database or something similar, so only images flagged in some government database get blurred.
Edit: or more likely it’s still in the testing stage and has to be enabled either by google or through some obscure setting.
But at least someone at Google gets to see your nude now! How kind of you to share with them :)
Getting them feet wet for that OF Career
I just searched for it on the playstore and couldn’t find it.
I couldn’t find it on the playstore either, but i did find it in my apps on my phone, so check there.
Same here, so I did a Google search for it and the results had a link to the app in the Play store. Navigating there shows me it was already installed.
Thanks for the info. Quickest uninstall since getting a new phone and removing Facebook. I’ll be waiting for the morality police to come pick me up any moment now…
The 5 star reviews are… well they are something.
Trust me bros
I did have this up previously and deleted it. I realized my mistake later and now I’ve cross posted it again. Sorry about that. There it is again.
You have a slightly confusing typo in the title. I initially read it as “uninstalled” because you have “unstalled” in the title.
I was like “Wow, did they roll it back already?”
Such an obvious error. Thanks for the heads up. Fixed.
deleted by creator
