All Samsung Galaxy phones hit by mysterious notification
What's the story
Did you get a mysterious notification on your Samsung device? Well, you are not alone!
Over the last 24 hours, a number of Samsung owners have reported the curious (and spooky) case of a weird '1' notification hitting their devices.
The notification appeared out of nowhere, leading users into thinking if their device has been hacked.
Here's what went down.
Issue
'1' notification from Find My Mobile app
According to reports on Twitter, several people using Samsung's Galaxy line of devices - from mid-rangers to flagships like Galaxy Z Flip - got a weird notification from their phone's Find My Mobile app.
The message simply read '1' with another '1' below it and had no explanation about what it meant or how it got triggered in the first place.
Concerns
This immediately raised 'hacking' concerns among users
As soon as the weird notification started appearing, a number of users were spooked, given that Find My Phone is typically used for things like locating or locking a smartphone remotely, backing up/deleting local data or blocking access to Samsung Pay.
They thought that their device/Samsung account was hacked and started reporting the matter on Twitter.
Issue #2
Some even witnessed a spike in battery usage
The case became even more concerning when some users who got the mysterious notification from Find My Mobile noticed a spike in the battery usage of the app.
This led many to search for the cause of the issue and a potential fix for the battery usage spike.
However, no concrete explanation of the whole case emerged.
Clarification
Samsung said it was just an 'accident'
When a flurry of complaints surfaced, Samsung took to Twitter to clarify that there is nothing to worry about and the spooky alert was sent unintentionally during an internal test.
This means that your phone or Samsung account has not been compromised; it was just a person who pressed a button they were not supposed to and sent out the mass notification.
Twitter Post
Here's Samsung answer to the complaints
Recently a notification about “Find My Mobile 1” occurred on a limited number of Galaxy devices. This notification was sent unintentionally during internal testing and there is no effect on your device. Samsung apologizes for any inconvenience this may have caused.
— Samsung Canada (@SamsungCanada) February 20, 2020
Information
No word on the battery spike yet
The company has not said anything about the strange spike in battery usage, which seems to indicate that this was just a one-time fluke due to the notification, and there is nothing serious. Hail testers and developers!