Google Accepts Remotely Changing Settings On Android Phones; Apologizes For “Bug”

Earlier this week, something bizarre started to happen with Android Pie users. Many of them found the battery saver toggled on their smartphones, despite having full or near full battery capacity.

A bunch of users started reporting on Reddit, and everyone found the same problem with their own devices. According to the report, the affected devices were Google Pixel 2, Google Pixel 2 XL, Essential PH-1, OnePlus 6, and Nokia 7 Plus.

Now Google has acknowledged the issue and apologized for the same. The tech giant says it was an internal experiment to test battery saving features. The testing was limited to a certain number of devices but mistakenly rolled out to more users than intended.

The company has rolled back the battery saver settings to the default state, with users able to set their own preferences again.

Interestingly, a bunch of Google Pixel users reported that the battery saving feature was set to turn on as soon as their device battery charged to 99 percent.

Other users also pointed out some privacy concerns on the matter. Google changing Android settings without users consent has raised many eyebrows in the Android community. One user complained as to why the bug was randomly loaded, without any notification when the device was using the stable version.

It’s worth noting that Google has drastically changed how the battery system works in Android Pie. Unlike in Android 8.1 Oreo, battery saver in Android Pie doesn’t change the battery symbol to orange or dims the brightness.

Also Read: Android Pie Smartphones List: Will My Phone Get Android 9 Update?