Remove Go SMS Pro From Your Android Device Right Now
The Go SMS Pro texting app has over 100 million installs from the Google Play Store, but popularity doesn’t matter: you need to stop using it and uninstall it from your phone right now. Cybersecurity firm Trustwave recently discovered a major loophole in the app that makes all photos, videos, and other media attachments that you send through the app publicly available.
(This is very bad.)
Here’s what’s going on: All the media you send through Go SMS Pro is saved on the server and assigned a URL. These URLs are not secure in the least, making them accessible to anyone who knows the correct URL.
However, the files are also ordered sequentially, so you can access other media that Go SMS Pro hosts by editing any regular hyperlink. Using this method, TechCrunch discovered sensitive financial information, home addresses, transaction receipts, and candid photos that were sent through the app. Also, these links are not limited to Go SMS Pro users: anyone who knows the URL scheme of a single link can easily extrapolate to find more.
This is a huge privacy issue, but most worrisome is that the developers of Go SMS Pro seem to be in no rush to address this issue. Trustwave immediately notified the developers of the issue in August 2020, but no one responded. The firm made four more unsuccessful attempts before publicly disclosing the flaw. TechCrunch and The Verge also sent emails to the developer, but the messages were either ignored or returned to the sender due to “mailbox overflow”. The Verge also found that the website listed in the list of apps in the Play Store was not loading.
Should you trust the Go SMS Pro developer? For these reasons, the application checks all Do Not Recommend boxes. If you are one of the many millions of people who have already installed it, stop using the app and uninstall it – and tell all the contacts who use it to do the same. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about the media you’ve already sent using the app.
Here are some quick alternatives to messaging apps you can try:
- The easiest option is to go back to the default messaging app on your phone, such as Google Messages or Samsung Messages .
- For now, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are essentially the same chat service, and both can also act as your default texting app. They can also connect to your Instagram DMs if you update the Instagram app and you have the option to encrypt your conversations.
Then there are apps that are primarily privacy focused, such as Signal, Telegram, and Viber, which offer features like end-to-end encryption, including better auto-delete settings for text and media attachments . It is a much better choice when you need text-based confidential information or files; definitely avoid Go SMS Pro.