Google remotely changing settings in Android Pie in "internal experiment"

[indrora]

Via: https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/14/17861150/google-battery-saver-android-9-pie-remote-settings-change

 

Users of some Pixel devices found that their battery saver was being turned on seemingly randomly. Reddit user /u/pyrocompulsive reported that their battery saver had been turned on at 70-something percent: 

 

 

Google responded that this was the result of an "internal experiment" rolling out to users that weren't supposed to get it: https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/9fkrvw/is_anyone_elses_power_saving_mode_turning_itself/e5xl907/

 

Quote

Hi all, some of you may have noticed that battery saver turned on automatically today. This was an internal experiment to test battery saving features that was mistakenly rolled out to more users than intended. We have now rolled battery saver settings back to default. Please configure to your liking. Sorry for the confusion.

The Verge reports that other phones, not just Pixel devices, had this pushed out:

Quote

This wasn’t just limited to Pixel phones, however; devices including the Essential Phone, OnePlus 6, Nokia handsets, and others running Pie (even in beta form) switched Battery Saver on without any user action. According to Google, when active, Battery Saver:

• Stops apps from refreshing content until you open them
• Stops use of location services when the display is off
• Prevents apps from doing things in the background
• Delays some notifications

 

 

[PlayStation 2]

Am I the only one disturbed by this?

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

Am I the only one disturbed by this?

I mean Microsoft does the same thing but with privacy settings and system settings. 

 

I wonder what company doesnt mess with your settings though......hmm, can't put my finger on it. 

[ZacoAttaco]

Android has come so far from what it was, originally it was an alternative for those who wanted greater control of their experience. This is the opposite of control.

[D13H4RD]

Smooth and Consistent Experience 

 

/s

[PlayStation 2]

Just now, DrMacintosh said:

I mean Microsoft does the same thing but with privacy settings and system settings. 

 

I wonder what company doesnt mes with your settings though......

Not Google, not Microsoft, not Apple, not anyone, hell, even certain Linux distros aren't even safe.

[indrora]

1 minute ago, ZacoAttaco said:

This is the opposite of control

"Don't be evil" -Google, 1999
"lol fuckit we're a monopoly, what are you going to do?" -Google today.

[handymanshandle]

I don't want to really disturb the for now sleeping Google Fanboys but honestly this deepens my disgust for Google.
I mean say what you will about Apple, you must admit. At least they're not Google.

 

 

I know owning an Android phone and saying those things is sacrilegious.

 

I currently own a Galaxy S8+, I've had (and still have) a Galaxy S6, Motorola G2, Huawei Ascend 2, Motorola Droid Incredible 2

I have only ever had 1 iPhone for a short period of a couple months back in like 2011. I had a iPhone 3GS.

[handymanshandle]

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

I mean Microsoft does the same thing but with privacy settings and system settings. 

 

I wonder what company doesnt mess with your settings though......hmm, can't put my finger on it. 

Canonical, I believe doesn't. Whatever the Company behind Fedora I'm certain doesn't. 

and yeah  sometimes apple

[ZacoAttaco]

It's not even that this particular iteration is bad. But if they are experimenting with these features who knows? I could see this affecting root access and other ways of altering Android which is the appeal of the OS.

[suicidalfranco]

One more reason to keep calling the Pixel line trash

[indrora]

9 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

One more reason to keep calling the Pixel line trash

This wasn't just Pixel devices, apparently. See the article: This also affected some Nokia, Essential, OnePlus devices.

[Fasterthannothing]

I love Android but why the heck do they need to push changes to phones like that? O well I guess if they start abusing this I'll just run a custom ROM. 

[ZacoAttaco]

39 minutes ago, VegetableStu said:

so tinfoil hat: what else do they have control of? and will they patch that out if they decide against it?

Interesting questions, could this feature also potentially be exploited by a third party? You'd hope not.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

2 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

I mean Microsoft does the same thing but with privacy settings and system settings. 

 

I wonder what company doesnt mess with your settings though......hmm, can't put my finger on it. 

Blackberry? Oh I know, Honda. 

[ZacoAttaco]

Just now, VegetableStu said:

any debugging/backdoor tool will be discovered and used eventually ._.

Don't you love how whenever companies design features, they never think of the implications if it ever were to be exploited. This is why I don't like the idea of 'always listening' devices...

[Linus_torvalds]

1 hour ago, pinksnowbirdie said:

Canonical, I believe doesn't. Whatever the Company behind Fedora I'm certain doesn't. 

and yeah  sometimes apple

LOL canonical is little microsoft!

Fedora i agree. But there are 100% free and open source linux distros. Which certainly do not do anything bad. There is even BIOS alternative, free and open source libreboot. So yeas on linux you CAN have free and open source everything. Many programs are FOSS.

[W-L]

@indrora Please don't forget to include a summary and opinion to provide a point of discussion for the News topic. The thread has been moved to General Discussion and may be returned once updated.

 

[suicidalfranco]

2 hours ago, indrora said:

This wasn't just Pixel devices, apparently. See the article: This also affected some Nokia, Essential, OnePlus devices.

even One Plus and Essential?

now that's antitrust level of BS. Really hope someone sues them and leaves them without a single penny.

 

Damn, really wish SailfishOS took off

[DocSwag]

I had this happen to me. It's pretty disturbing that Google can do that... hence why I've gone ahead and disabled modify system settings for google play services (which I believe was the culprit).

 

[Arika]

8 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

 

I wonder what company doesnt mess with your settings though......hmm, can't put my finger on it. 

No, they just throttle your entire phone without telling you, making you think it's time to get a new one. Don't act like apple doesn't fuck over it's users.

[Drak3]

I would not have noticed if I ran Pie. I keep some level power saver on anyways.

[DrMacintosh]

45 minutes ago, Arika S said:

No, they just throttle your entire phone without telling you, making you think it's time to get a new one. Don't act like apple doesn't fuck over it's users.

They did that to select phone models and it was for the objective good of the device and user experience. When people got upset for no valid reason they enabled a user flipable switch. 

 

This instance with Google is for neither of those things. 

[Arika]

19 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

They did that to select phone models and it was for the objective good of the device and user experience.

Doesn't matter how many phones they did it to, or what their own reasoning was, if they were not called out they would be perfectly happy with people buying new phones to replace their "slow" ones. Not telling people has the same effect as if it was intentional obsolescence to get more money from new phone purchases.

 

But you don't see it that way, because you're The Doctor...

[EPENEX]

Google can do whatever they want with their OS, if you don't like it use something else.