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Following reports of a bug on Twitter, Google has temporarily disabled the Photos feature on Android TV. The decision was made in light of complaints from some Android TV users who say hundreds of strangers appeared under the platform’s ‘Linked Accounts’ menu. Though those users’ photos weren’t accessible, impacted Android TV owners could view their names and profile pictures.
The issue was first reported by Android Police, which points to a video shared by Twitter user ‘Prashanth.’ In the video, hundreds of Google Photos accounts are listed under the Google Home app’s Ambient Mode, which allows users to display a feed of their Google Photos images on an Android TV or Chromecast.
When I access my Vu Android TV through the @Google Home app, and check the linked accounts, it basically lists what I imagine is every single person who owns this television. This is shocking incompetence. pic.twitter.com/5DGwrArsco
— prashanth (@wothadei) March 3, 2019
As part of the Ambient Mode feature, Google makes (made) it possible to enable displaying images from other Google Photos users by linking their accounts. This feature was intended to be used with other known users — friends and family, for example — but this surprise bug had apparently linked hundreds of unknown accounts.
Android Police has identified complaints related to the Vu LED TV 55SU134, which has Android TV built-in, as well as another related to the iFFalcon 32F2A Android TV from a TCL subsidiary. Prashanth told the site that he wasn’t able to replicate the bug on a Xiaomi Mi Box 3 running Android 8 Oreo; the Vu TV was still running the older Android 7 software.
The problem may only impact older hardware that hasn’t received the latest security updates.
Though he was able to view users’ names and profile pictures under Linked Accounts and the Ambient Mode feature, Prashanth did say in a tweet that wasn’t able to view the other users’ actual Google Photos images. Google is expected to bring back the feature with a bug fix in the future.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)