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Malware?---"Allow Single access to your pictures" popup. Huh?

T

tgm1024

Well-Known Member
Ok, this was weird. All I did was snap an outdoor photo, and for the first time I got that cryptic message in the subject line:

(Words to the effect of) "Allow Single access to your pictures? (allow/deny)"

I denied it any access right away. I saw "Single" and I'm thinking I somehow got a malware Single persons app on my phone (called "Single"), and it was potentially one of those ransomware encryption scams.

Is this something to worry about?

Thanks all
 
svim said:
Take another photo and this time pay close attention to the wording of whatever popup message.

Odds are it's just some dialog box asking for permissions to some app. While it could be something insidious, it's not likely. Don't get caught up in all the nonsense that's floating around in the media these days.
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3268904/android-security-facts.html
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3411440/android-security-scares.html
Click to expand...

Well, ever since I saw my phone cycle through passwords as if I were typing them into a google dialog box, *and* saw an app throw up ads even after uninstalled until I discovered that it wasn't actually uninstalled but just hiding itself and I thankfully caught it with a deleting utility.....well, I've been cautious. I don't buy into articles on either side BTW.

Hadron said:
Never heard of "Single". But just to be sure, you don't have an app called "Single" installed? Or "Signal", a message app whose name could easily be misread as "Single"?
Click to expand...

Yeah, first thing I checked. No, it's not Signal. I'll wait until it happens again.

svim said:
Take another photo and this time pay close attention to the wording of whatever popup message.
Click to expand...

It's something called "Single take" (note the lowercase on "take".....is it to differentiate from "Single Take"?)

20200825_090541.jpg
 
svim said:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-use-samsung-single-take-camera-feature/
Do you have a S20 line phone? So yeah, there is 'Single Take' but it's a camera mode option in the Camera app, not a discrete app so that 'Single take' message is curious. If you look in your Settings >> Apps menu is there any app entry actually named, "Single take"?
Click to expand...

I'll look closer. It's worrisome to me that there's a lower-case "t". That would be a perfect way to pseudo-disguise an additional app to sit alongside SingleTake, and then hide itself later. Hardly anyone (except for a clinically paranoid software engineer like me, lol) would notice it.
 
tgm1024 said:
I'll look closer. It's worrisome to me that there's a lower-case "t". That would be a perfect way to pseudo-disguise an additional app to sit alongside SingleTake, and then hide itself later. Hardly anyone (except for a clinically paranoid software engineer like me, lol) would notice it.
Click to expand...
Along with checking if there is a discrete 'Single take' app or service running on your phone, you might also want to look in your Settings >> Battery menu to see if there's any 'Single take' service running in the background. Or if you enable Developer Options, there's a Running services option that's more comprehensive than the Battery menu:
https://www.howtogeek.com/258300/ho...of-running-apps-in-6.0-marshmallow-and-above/
The issue with Samsung's Single Take option is it's a Camera app option, not it's own app. The Camera app will have its Permissions settings, not every menu option in the app itself. If that were the case, for every app on our devices it could involve just a handful of separate Permissions settings, or dozens and dozens depending on the feature set of each app.
 
svim said:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-use-samsung-single-take-camera-feature/
Do you have a S20 line phone?
Click to expand...
S10+

svim said:
So yeah, there is 'Single Take' but it's a camera mode option in the Camera app, not a discrete app so that 'Single take' message is curious. If you look in your Settings >> Apps menu is there any app entry actually named, "Single take"?
Click to expand...
No, nothing.

svim said:
Along with checking if there is a discrete 'Single take' app or service running on your phone, you might also want to look in your Settings >> Battery menu to see if there's any 'Single take' service running in the background.
Click to expand...

Over the days before, on that day, and days afterward, nothing called "Single take".

This is extremely problematic to search for too, because absolutely everyone confuses this question with Single Take, a known "thing", which may or may not be what this is.

I'm also really concerned that no one else in this thread seems to have seen this.
 
ocnbrze said:
why not just do a factory reset? it should delete whatever it is.
Click to expand...

Dannydet said:
I agree with ocnbrze, a factory reset will return your device to stock
Click to expand...

Are there any trustworthy apps for managing my phone and app settings? Every factory reset I've done for past phones has resulted in a hellish struggle.

PLUS, I have an S10+ directly from Samsung, and it took a Verizon employee a few go-arounds to get it to play nicely with wifi calling/texting.
 
ocnbrze said:
an app for managing your phone and app settings? not sure what you mean by this. like backing up data?
Click to expand...

Large scale data (images/videos) are handled already a different way.

I'm talking about the internal settings of each app (a number of apps requires have a number of things to tweak), plus all of the internal settings to the phone (such as who has what for notifications, etc.) and the whopper of a problem: Getting my samsung-bought (not verizon branded) S10+ to continue to understand how to do wifi calling via verizon.

That last problem is no small feat in some cases. It's *still* a bone of contention out there; For instance Best Buy seems convinced it has to be a branded phone to get wifi calling, and Samsung and Verizon themselves say no, but no one can seem to get it to work for most people if the phone isn't Verizon Branded. Some have a Samsung phone work out of the box. Most do not. A select few (like me) can have it turned on. Absolutely no one is clear on how or why any of this is, but googling around and you'll see a lot of ire.
 
If you are still experiencing problems, why not create a new Gmail account and password and start fresh?
Remove your Gmail account from the phone.
Factory reset the phone and use the new account credentials.
Since you call yourself a clinically paranoid software engineer....
 
Dannydet said:
If you are still experiencing problems, why not create a new Gmail account and password and start fresh?
Remove your Gmail account from the phone.
Factory reset the phone and use the new account credentials.
Since you call yourself a clinically paranoid software engineer....
Click to expand...

Sigh. I covered this already. So I'll flesh it out with more detail.

It takes semi-heroic leaps of effort to get non-branded (direct from Samsung) phones to behave with Verizon via wifi calling. Some work out of the box. Most seem to not.

My local verizon store owner had to use his Verizon tablet and go back and forth with my phone in order to get it to allow Verizon wifi calling. Multiple fails. And it's a matter of having a non-branded phone ask for branded software, that seems to at time assume other Verizon specific crap is in there first. I have to guess on that last part, because it's not something consistent.

Google and Apple phones do not have this problem, nor do Samsung phones on T-Mobile.

If you talk to a BestBuy guy (almost always a bad idea) he'll point out that "they were told" that the entire point of a carrier branded phoned is to allow wifi calling. Samsung themselves however, deny this. Verizon people on the phone tend to get

But it doesn't stop the plethora of problems you'll see online about this topic. Google it, if you want to get aggravated. And I was one of the folks with this problem. And after all of this, I still cannot get icon badges to work with the phone and message icons.

So I'm not particularly psyched to factory reset the phone. And no, it's not appropriate for me to change my google login for this....that's teethed into everything.
 
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Dannydet said:
As for Wi-Fi calling, that is up to your carrier and device for compatibility
Click to expand...

Of course. And for the S10+ Samsung says it's fine, and Verizon says its fine, except for the Best Buy guys reps specializing in Verizon (the guys in the Verizon kiosk) which say it's not, and the local Verizon store guy says that they don't know anything, and online they all think it's one massive conspiracy, and and and and and.....

And none of that changes the fact that it's a royal PITA to get going.

IN any case, my post was out there not to restart that part of the discussion (the world has enough conspiracy BS chatter going on right now), but to see if since I first brought it up if anyone else saw that same peculiar message.

For example, it puts me at ease if 10 people chimed in with words to the effect of "oh yeah, I saw that too over the last couple weeks".
 
Dannydet said:
Install Nova launcher and Tesla unread, both in the play store.
You'll get icon badges on your device now....
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I have the paid version of Nova already (icon badges never worked before or after Nova.....ever since the wifi calling was "fixed" it never showed up again).

I'm assuming that Tesla Unread will bypass the normal Android notification settings?
 
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