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Messenger update doing strange changes to system

S

shallowed

Lurker
So I just updated Messenger from the play store and when it was done installing, it locked my phone (phone went black). I pressed the power button immediately and unlocked it to see what was up. I instantly dragged down the notification bar and noticed that almost all of the stuff there was missing: the app drawer/quick access bar, the brightness slider and I believe the time and date on top were missing as well. After a few seconds my whole screen "refreshed" and everything came back. However I noticed that the font size of the clock in the top right corner had been increased by a size of 1.
I have my suspicions now that the update has done other stuff to my system.
How is it possible that an app has permission to do stuff like this (changes to system)? And should I be concerned?

Edit: I'm on a Samsung Galaxy S5, Android version 6.0.1.
 
Looking at the permissions for the app, it doesn't. Sometimes my device will slow down for a second or so when updating apps and the screen will refresh.

Aside from the apparent clock change, what else do you think it's done?
 
Keep in mind that messenger is a memory hog and that is why it had to refresh your system like that.
My advice is to keep away from installing such apps.
 
Well it's fruitless to sit and guess what the update did.
I'm just concerned it could have done something else that I have yet to notice, especially considering the fact we are talking about Facebook here which have recently been getting slammed with lawsuits regarding privacy and fraud to mention a couple.
 
I'd have to agree with @El Presidente on this one. While I abhor Messenger (and most things Facebook) I do have it installed on my tablet and it shouldn't be abl to affect the system. It is not listed as a device administrator (settings>general>security>Device administrators). And, while it's permissions are extensive, it doesn't have access to things like app drawer settings or the task bar. It does have permission to run at startup so after an update it might need to rebuild it's cache, which could temporarily interrupt services from starting.

Now, the screen going blank and the font size changing sound more like an update to your launcher (TouchWiz?) were you running multiple updates?
 
This isn't the actuall real FB Messenger is it? Just a 3rd Party alternative which uses the same icon?

I've checked the play link in the channel you posted in and it's not developed by FB, rather a company called Forbis s.r.o.

If you have concerns, maybe install the real FB Messenger app?
 
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