Dialer One - spy app?

miniyazz · 28 Sep 2014 at 21:54

I had a notification the other day appearing to be from Google warning me to uninstal Dialer One as "it can be used to spy on you". Since I run the Xposed Framework anyway and heavily restrict all apps I ignored it but got the message again today and since I had the time I Googled it but couldn't find any evidence of it.. and it's still on the Play Store etc.

Anyone else had the message?

Sorry can't post a screenshot as I told the message not to bother coming back

(unless anyone knows how to rescind that!)

Something Else · 29 Sep 2014 at 11:12

If Google is saying it's a spy app then perhaps uninstalled it.

demonix · 29 Sep 2014 at 15:47

Since google can remotely remove malicious apps from devices, would they even need to send any form of notification if it is.

I suspect that the notification itself is suspicious.

mrk · 29 Sep 2014 at 16:24

What app originated the notification? That in itself is the suspicious part not Dialer One which is a very popular app and well regarded?

Myshra · 29 Sep 2014 at 16:44

DialerOne went EOL recently and there's a replacement app, which caused the issue here?

mrk · 29 Sep 2014 at 16:51

Oh, didn't know that!

Django x2 · 29 Sep 2014 at 17:32

DiallerOne. This isn't 2006. Stock Android Dialler (especially L) is pure win really. Apparently, you can make calls using it.....

mrk · 29 Sep 2014 at 18:29

Django x2 said:
DiallerOne. This isn't 2006. Stock Android Dialler (especially L) is pure win really. Apparently, you can make calls using it.....

That's not the point, the reason people used apps like Dialer One was because stock diallers like the Samsung one are generally crap. I will cover this aspect in my Z3 review but simply put the T3 search feature in Samsung one is flawed in that you can search a contact but when you click on it you only have the option of calling it and not viewing the contact card.

I, like many, use the dialler app to find contacts and click through to them to view other info I have stored about them and deal with the contact via that method and Dialer One offered the best features to do that. HTC's dialler allows you to do that, Sony's dialler allows you to do that as does stock Android dialler.

Speaking of the stock Android one, you can't use it on Samsung/HTC etc phones. It has to be a stock ROM not an OEM skinned one.

miniyazz · 29 Sep 2014 at 22:24

Something Else said:
If Google is saying it's a spy app then perhaps uninstalled it.

Like I say, it can't do anything because its permissions are restricted.

demonix said:
Since google can remotely remove malicious apps from devices, would they even need to send any form of notification if it is.

I suspect that the notification itself is suspicious.

I briefly wondered this but it looks like a legitimate notification.

mrk said:
What app originated the notification? That in itself is the suspicious part not Dialer One which is a very popular app and well regarded?

Myshra said:
DialerOne went EOL recently and there's a replacement app, which caused the issue here?

Plenty of confusion here because the legit Dialer One on the Play store told me it was installed on all my devices and last used within the last week on this particular phone. Plus, only one Dialer One existed on my phone.
However trying to access the Play Store via the App manager on the phone failed to find it and by clicking the 'installed' button on the Play store it brought up an option to install it (?again) so I did that and ended up with two Dialer Ones on my phone.

So in conclusion, clearly I somehow managed to download the dodgy version which presumably I have been using for months, and have now corrected the error.

To avoid fallout from cases like these I highly recommend installing the Xposed Framework and Xprivacy (root required). You choose which permissions each app is allowed and it will block access in a 'legitimate' way for every denied permission - e.g. no GPS = 'no GPS signal available' passed to the app, no internet = 'no internet available' passed to the app, etc.