Reason 7,565,236 to own an iPhone:

Security vulnerability in Android phones due to hidden bloatware

This is just crazy. Here’s the story from Forbes, Android Headlines and PC Mag:

Since 2017, the Google smartphone known as Android Pixel has had a hidden tracking feature that allows privilege escalation. This means that the data on your phone, i.e. everything, can be tracked.

It was later discovered that this tracking occurs on all Android phones.

As if tracking wasn’t bad enough, this vulnerability also makes Android owners vulnerable to so-called man-in-the-middle attacks. This allows the attacker to easily access the phone and install malicious code or spyware on it.

The app is called Showcase.apk and was added to Verizon phones for demo purposes. It is impossible to remove this app because it is part of the firmware image.

I Verify says: “We have no evidence that this vulnerability is being actively exploited. The reason for the heightened concern is that the app is designed to retrieve a configuration file over unsecured HTTP… to execute system commands or modules that could open a backdoor, making the device easily compromised. Since the app itself is not malicious, just poorly built, it may be missed by most security technologies… and since the app is installed at the system level and is part of the firmware image, it cannot be uninstalled at the user level.”

How do I get rid of this malicious app?

Google will remove the app with an update and will no longer install the app on future Android phones.

I couldn’t find a definitive date for the Google update for your phone to remove this spyware.