process called Android System SafetyCore – which arrived in a recent update for devices running Android 9 and later. It scans a user’s photo library for explicit images and displays content warnings before viewing them. Google says “the classification of content runs exclusively on your device and the results aren’t shared with Google.”
Naturally, it will also bring similar tech to Google Messages down the line to prevent certain unsolicited images from affecting a receiver.
Google started installing SafetyCore on user devices in November 2024, and there’s no way of opting out or managing the installation. One day, it’s just there.
Users have vented their frustrations about SafetyCore ever since and despite being able to uninstall and opt out of image scanning, the consent-less approach that runs throughout Android nevertheless left some users upset. It can be uninstalled on Android forks like Xiaomi’s MIUI using
Settings>Apps>Android System SafetyCore>Uninstallor on Android usingApps/Apps & Notifications>Show System Apps>Show system apps>Locate SafetyCore>Uninstall or Disable. Reviewers report that in some cases the uninstall option is grayed out, and it can only be disabled, while others complain that it reinstalls on the next update.The app’s Google Play page is littered with negative reviews, many of which cite its installation without consent.
“In short, it is spyware. We were not informed. It feels like the right to privacy is secondary to Google’s corporate interests,” one reviewer wrote.
Source: Google’s ‘consent-less’ Android tracking probed by academics • The Register
Robin Edgar
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