Phones do odd things all of the time, but it is a cause for concern when a phone is sending photos in the image gallery to random people.
What Is Samsung Messages?
Samsung Messages is a special communications application that is available on most Samsung products. The app allows users to message anyone with a phone number without signing up for a plan. Some of the key features of the app include blocking messages, searching for messages, and using the app on multi-SIM devices.
In order to use Samsung Messages, the device must have permission to access multimedia files on it. Samsung also requests access to information about contacts.
The Glitch On Samsung Messages
It recently surfaced that Samsung Messages contains a glitch that sends your photos to contacts without your permission. There are reports of individual photos being sent to random people, as well as the entire image galleries for some users. This bug in Samsung Messages surfaced after one user complained about it on Reddit.
"Last night around 2:30 am, my phone sent her my entire photo gallery over text but there was no record of it on my messages app," the users wrote on Reddit. "However, there was record of it on T-mobile logs. Why would this happen?"
At first, the bug in Samsung Messages was not considered to be in a specific device or a specific network. As the Reddit thread expanded, it became clear that certain networks and devices were more likely to have it. Most of the affected users are on T-Mobile and AT&T. Their devices include the Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9 Plus, and Galaxy Note 8.
There were no reports about where the bug originated. As of June 29, Samsung has not commented on it.
How To Fix The Glitch In Samsung Messages
Users say that the best way to solve the problem is to disable storage permissions. This can be achieved by going to Settings > Apps > Samsung Messages > Permissions > Storage. Although this will prevent a device from sending photos to random people, it will also prevent users from sending any images with the app. This is the dilemma.
As another alternative, users can turn off auto-updates, but that may not fix the entire problem. The best fix is to use a different messaging app until Samsung takes action and removes the bug. Other messaging apps, such as Android Messages, are available for users and it includes a desktop component.
