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Security concerns

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BladeV8prouser1

Lurker
I have a ZTE Blade V8 pro android 6.0

I have noticed that if someone calls me on Whatsapp you can answer the call from the lock screen.

I do not like this as one time I was away from my phone and a co worker was able to answer my phone. (Had good intentions .Was worried it was an emergency.)

How can I stop WhatsApp from being able to bypass my lock screen?

I sent WhatsApp support team and email and got a generic response that had nothing to do with what I asked.

Maybe I am overlooking some setting but I have gone through my settings several times and don't see what I need to change.

Thanks to anyone that is willing to help me out. I tried googling this but I could not find an answer.
 
Do you have the same concern about your regular phone calls? Every phone I've used allows me to answer regular calls without unlocking first, so I imagine they have the same "problem" (in quotes because it can also be a problem if you do have to unlock, since you are more likely to miss calls).
 
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Hadron said:
Do you have the same concern about your regular phone calls? Every phone I've used allows me to answer regular calls without unlocking first, so I imagine they have the same "problem" (in quotes because it can also be a problem if you do have to unlock, since you are more likely to miss calls).
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Yes regular phone calls would also be a concern. My previous phone (Galaxy s5mini) would not let me answer without unlocking my phone first.

My friends iPhone 6s also stays locked.

I just think this is not a good thing at all. Defeats the purpose of a lock screen. Any ideas what I should check?
 
If you disable the WhatsApp app, at that point you cannot use WhatsApp at all (at least until you enable it again).

On my Moto E4 Nougat phone if I go into my Settings >> Notifications menu there are various options (per app) referring to your query -- 'No sensitive content on lock screen' or 'Never shown on lock screen'. Not sure how different this appear on your ZTE Marshmallow phone but try looking into that.
https://gadgetguideonline.com/andro...age-app-notifications-in-android-marshmallow/

https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/26000003/
 
BladeV8prouser1 said:
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Yes regular phone calls would also be a concern. My previous phone (Galaxy s5mini) would not let me answer without unlocking my phone first.

My friends iPhone 6s also stays locked.

I just think this is not a good thing at all. Defeats the purpose of a lock screen. Any ideas what I should check?
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I've done some tests and turning off notifications on the lock screen didn't change it on my phone, but we're using different phones, different manufacturers, different Android versions (6 vs 9, and I've never used 6 - jumped from 5 to 8). I'd look at lock screen settings (which should be under Security or Privacy) and see whether anything is there.

I'd expect it to let you receive a call, but when the call ends you'd be presented with the lock screen. Same as phones that allow you to open the camera from the lock screen (to take a quick shot) don't in my experience don't let you do anything else, even review the photo, without going through the lock screen. If it behaves that way then the only security concern is that someone else can answer an incoming call if they have access to your phone, but they can't make an outgoing call or access anything else. Whether that "defeats the point of the lockscreen" depends on what you think it is for: if they still can't access your data, accounts or apps many people would say that it's doing the important thing. Answering calls without unlocking is a trade-off: fewer missed calls vs possibility that someone else could answer if you leave your phone unattended. Ideally there would be an option to let you choose, but on my phone I cannot find it.

I admit that I never leave my phone unattended on a desk or in a public space, so this has never been a concern to me. And if I lost the phone and an honest person found it it would allow them to anwer, which I did do once about 20 years ago, so there's pros and cons (though my lockscreen does display an email address for anyone finding it to contact me on - not the Google account I use with the phone, for obvious reasons).
 
FWIW I'm sure every phone I've had could answer incoming calls without actually unlocking it, and that includes an original iPhone. But that's all they could do, just answer incoming calls and nothing else, not without unlocking. Also I have seen many other people answering incoming calls without unlocking, including iPhones.
 
Ye
Hadron said:
I've done some tests and turning off notifications on the lock screen didn't change it on my phone, but we're using different phones, different manufacturers, different Android versions (6 vs 9, and I've never used 6 - jumped from 5 to 8). I'd look at lock screen settings (which should be under Security or Privacy) and see whether anything is there.

I'd expect it to let you receive a call, but when the call ends you'd be presented with the lock screen. Same as phones that allow you to open the camera from the lock screen (to take a quick shot) don't in my experience don't let you do anything else, even review the photo, without going through the lock screen. If it behaves that way then the only security concern is that someone else can answer an incoming call if they have access to your phone, but they can't make an outgoing call or access anything else. Whether that "defeats the point of the lockscreen" depends on what you think it is for: if they still can't access your data, accounts or apps many people would say that it's doing the important thing. Answering calls without unlocking is a trade-off: fewer missed calls vs possibility that someone else could answer if you leave your phone unattended. Ideally there would be an option to let you choose, but on my phone I cannot find it.

I admit that I never leave my phone unattended on a desk or in a public space, so this has never been a concern to me. And if I lost the phone and an honest person found it it would allow them to anwer, which I did do once about 20 years ago, so there's pros and cons (though my lockscreen does display an email address for anyone finding it to contact me on - not the Google account I use with the phone, for obvious reasons).
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Yeah it was not a problem for me either until my co worker answered it.

Your right you can answer a phone call(voice/video) and that's it. Because otherwise the lockscreen shows up.

For now if I'm away from my phone I put it in airplane mode. This kinda sucks but I don't want someone to anserr my calls. In my job there are places I can't take my phone to so I have to leave my phone away from me.
 
mikedt said:
FWIW I'm sure every phone I've had could answer incoming calls without actually unlocking it, and that includes an original iPhone. But that's all they could do, just answer incoming calls and nothing else, not without unlocking. Also I have seen many other people answering incoming calls without unlocking, including iPhones.
Click to expand...

I tried what's app calling on other phones and Everytime the lock screen came up first. The phone rang but you could not answer it without unlocking first. I have not tried regular calls yet. But I know for sure my friends iPhone 6s the lock screen comes up first.

I have checked all my settings several times and it just won't lock incoming calls from WhatsApp.
 
I appreciate everyone's help.. another solution I found is to block people likely to call me that way I can still keep my phone with a connection and not use airplane mode. Tho it's very inconvenient to constantly go thru and block then unblock my friends/family.

For now airplane mode it is.
 
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