Rabat_ Social Media Exchange (SMEX)—a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human rights in digital spaces across MENA [Middle East and North Africa] — is warning that Israeli-linked software secretly embedded in Samsung phones across the Middle East and North Africa region poses a serious surveillance threat.
According to SMEX, Samsung’s A and M series devices either come preloaded with the app “Aura” or install it automatically through system updates, without the user’s consent. The application reportedly collects a wide range of personal and device-specific data, including IP addresses, device fingerprints, hardware details, and network information.
it definitely is a carrier thing. my phone is carrier unlocked, but because it used to be a T-Mobile phone I still had their shitty T-Mobile app manager randomly installing shit. I was wise enough to disable it but many have no idea you can. same goes for this appcloud thing, it’s been around for a long time and affects a lot of Japanese and Chinese phones too. I switched from iPhone and this bewildered me, no idea how it’s even legal.
You can flash the US Unlocked firmware. I use a US Unlocked S22 Ultra. Works on all carriers. No bloatware like what you described. I know what you’re talking about – it’s called Carrier something. It’s a system app. You can disable it but updates might re-enable it.
oh wow, I’ll have to try that. will I have to backup everything on the phone? I got it a couple of weeks ago but I already have it pretty extensively set up.