Is Google Maps always listening?
We were discussing a future trip to a local attraction with a unique name.
Without any action on our part, Google Maps popped up a green UI element with a timer button that I’ve never seen before. It prompted us to add a stop at the attraction we were discussing.
How the hell did this happen? I can only think of:
1- Microphone input was enabled. However, the phone was not touched since the start of the trip 30 minutes before. Was it listening the whole time? The attraction is one of the ones that shows a map ad no matter what you search for, so maybe they get special treatment?
2- One of the passengers had a Google Pixel of some sort. Maybe we accidentally triggered that phone and it coordinated GPS signals to show the prompt to the driver?
Regardless of how it was done, this was unsettling. It felt very invasive and I don’t trust this app any longer.