In a highly bizarre situation, an app update on Motorola phones has started hijacking the Amazon app for the sake of injecting an affiliate code. To do that, tapping the app icon opens the user’s browser and immediately redirects to the Amazon app. Termed as a “blink and you missed it” moment, this only happens when the user opens the Amazon app from the app drawer, but not the homescreen pages. The user will notice that the Chrome browser flashes up briefly when opening from the app drawer.
However, Motorola, according to 9to5Google, has now acknowledged the situation, also confirming that this was not an intentional change.
In a statement to 9to5Google, Motorola says this behavior was “unintended” and that it has been corrected.
Motorola and Device Native jointly developed an app search and suggestion experience for the Moto App Launcher, designed to help users quickly find and launch apps they already have installed on their devices.
Recently, Motorola acted quickly to resolve an issue that was identified, which caused some users in the U.S. launching the Amazon Shopping app to be routed through a web tracking link before opening the app. This behavior was unintended and resulted in an inconsistent user experience.
Upon identifying the issue, we promptly corrected the routing configuration. Users can now expect all installed apps to launch directly as intended.
Motorola takes user experience, privacy, and platform integrity seriously and will continue to closely monitor the system to ensure expected behavior across devices.
We are committed to responsible disclosure, and to transparent, collaborative engagement with researchers to identify and address potential issues swiftly.
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