Motorola was in the news earlier this week when reports surfaced that its phones had hijacked shopping apps like Amazon to insert affiliate links. The Smart Feed app, preinstalled on some Motorola phones, was reportedly behind this. Although it didn’t seem like Motorola was intentionally doing this, the entire fiasco felt quite strange. Well, the company says that it was “unintentional” behavior.
Motorola responds as the shopping apps hijack issue gains attention
As a refresher, the issue is that whenever a user tries to open the Amazon app from the app drawer, it briefly opens the browser with a sketchy-looking URL and immediately redirects to the Amazon app with affiliate codes. However, this doesn’t happen when opening the Amazon app from the home screen pages.
The Reddit user, who originally discovered this, found the issue on their Razr 60 Ultra. It was reportedly sending requests to devicenative.com, which is a Motorola-affiliated ad company. The preloaded Smart Feed app with version 2.03.0070 was reportedly the culprit here. There were reports that the shady URL seen in the browser window linked to a fashion influencer’s website.
The company says this was unintentional behavior
Motorola has now issued a statement to Android Authority. It said that this was unintentional and that the app should be working properly once again. The company notes that it partnered with Device Native to develop an “app search and suggestion experience” for the Moto App Launcher. This feature is apparently to help users quickly find and open installed apps.
After discovering the issue, Motorola says that it changed the routing configuration so users can now open shopping apps directly without triggering the browser with any affiliate links. Users don’t have to do anything from their end.
“Recently, Motorola acted quickly to resolve an issue that was identified, which caused some users in the US launching the Amazon Shopping app to be routed through a web tracking link before opening the app. This behavior was unintended and resulted in an inconsistent user experience. Upon identifying the issue, we promptly corrected the routing configuration. Users can now expect all installed apps to launch directly as intended. Motorola takes user experience, privacy, and platform integrity seriously and will continue to closely monitor the system to ensure expected behavior across devices,” said Motorola.
This shows how much control brands have over the devices
The company, however, doesn’t explain how this could have happened in the first place. It’s also unclear why there were affiliate codes before the app opened. What Motorola is trying to say is that this was an accident rather than an intentional behavior. Either way, this entire situation and Motorola’s response show how much control phone makers have over their devices.
It’s also concerning that brands can push affiliate links or other content when trying to open an app. For what it’s worth, Motorola is partnering with Graphene OS to launch a smartphone, which could offer a more secure experience without tracking or analytics.
The post Motorola Clarifies Amazon App Hijack Issue Was Unintentional appeared first on Android Headlines.
