this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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Per one tech forum this week: “Google has quietly installed an app on all Android devices called ‘Android System SafetyCore’. It claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 12 hours ago (14 children)
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[–] [email protected] 10 points 12 hours ago

laughs in GrapheneOS

[–] [email protected] 6 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

The countdown to Android's slow and painful death is already ticking for a while.

It has become over-engineered and no longer appealing from a developer's viewpoint.

I still write code for Android because my customers need it - will be needing for a while - but I've stopped writng code for Apple's i-things and I research alternatives for Android. Rolling my own environment with FOSS components on top of Raspbian looks feasible already. On robots and automation, I already use it.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

More information: It's been rolling out to Android 9+ users since November 2024 as a high priority update. Some users are reporting it installs when on battery and off wifi, unlike most apps.

App description on Play store: SafetyCore is a Google system service for Android 9+ devices. It provides the underlying technology for features like the upcoming Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages that helps users protect themselves when receiving potentially unwanted content. While SafetyCore started rolling out last year, the Sensitive Content Warnings feature in Google Messages is a separate, optional feature and will begin its gradual rollout in 2025. The processing for the Sensitive Content Warnings feature is done on-device and all of the images or specific results and warnings are private to the user.

Description by google Sensitive Content Warnings is an optional feature that blurs images that may contain nudity before viewing, and then prompts with a “speed bump” that contains help-finding resources and options, including to view the content. When the feature is enabled, and an image that may contain nudity is about to be sent or forwarded, it also provides a speed bump to remind users of the risks of sending nude imagery and preventing accidental shares. - https://9to5google.com/android-safetycore-app-what-is-it/

So looks like something that sends pictures from your messages (at least initially) to Google for an AI to check whether they're "sensitive". The app is 44mb, so too small to contain a useful ai and I don't think this could happen on-phone, so it must require sending your on-phone data to Google?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 15 hours ago (8 children)

Thanks. Just uninstalled. What a cunts

[–] [email protected] 11 points 14 hours ago

I uninstalled it, and a couple of days later, it reappeared on my phone.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 18 hours ago

Fuck these cunt

[–] [email protected] 0 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Basically, ot scans all files and shit like an antivirus does on windows? Oks

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

No, antivirus software only looks for matches with known malware and exploits.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I didn't have it in my app drawer but once I went to this link, it showed as installed. I un-installed it ASAP.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.safetycore&hl=en-US

[–] [email protected] 14 points 16 hours ago

I also reported it as hostile and inappropriate. I am sure Google will do fuck all with that report but I enjoy being petty sometimes

[–] [email protected] 6 points 17 hours ago

thank you for posting this. it's not yet installed on my phone for some reason, but i will be checking this page every couple days to make sure it stays that way.

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