By now many of you, or at least some of you have heard about Stagefright: the nasty bug which seems to affect the majority of Android devices from the latest version of Lollipop all the way back to Gingerbread. The vulnerability lies within multimedia messaging which most people know as picture messaging, and essentially, anyone who doesn’t have auto-retrieve disabled for their messaging app of choice could be unprotected. This doesn’t include any devices which have already been patched of course, of which a handful of device OEMs are already beginning to do. So far Google had started things off with their Nexus smartphones and tablets soon after the bug was discovered and a handful of other device OEMs and carriers have begun issuing the patches to fix the bugs on their end or have announced patches coming soon.
Verizon Wireless announced this morning it would be patching up a selection of different Samsung devices for the Stagefright bug, and now T-Mobile has just recently announced that they’ll be doing the same with some of the Samsung devices on their network. Motorola and LG have also previously announced they’re currently working on putting out a fix for the Stagefright bug so users of those devices won’t have to wait too long before a fix goes out. As a temporary preventative measure for those who don’t have a patch from their carrier or OEM just yet, disabling auto-retrieve in the messaging settings is something that’s been recommended. Other apps like Textra for example have updated their app to include some protection from Stagefright which is another solution till an actual patch comes through.
As for the Samsung devices on T-Mobile set to get updates to fix the bug, this includes the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge as well as the Galaxy Note 4. T-Mobile’s blog post lists that updates for the bug fix are to begin August 10th, which is today, so if you use one of these devices be sure to check for updates from the settings/about phone menu. Also keep in mind that updates are beginning today but that doesn’t mean every single user with one of these devices will get the update today.