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Tags: Replaced Manual revert |
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| {{IncidentCargo
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| |Company=Red Sky Labs
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| |StartDate=March 2025
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| |EndDate=February 2026
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| |Status=Resolved
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| |ProductLine=
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| |Product=Muzio Player
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| |ArticleType=Product
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| |Type=Privacy
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| |Description=In 2025, Red Sky Labs changed Muzio Player's permissions to require access to the user's phone logs and other information (such as contacts) for purportedly an anti-virus feature. Refusal to grant access would result in the app not working. The backlash led the company to revert the change in February 2026.
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| }}
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| '''Muzio Player''' (rebranded as "Music Player — MP3 Player") is a popular<ref name="reddit-muzio">{{Cite web |author=MorCJul |title=Muzio Music Player (100M+ Downloads on Google Play Store) claims it needs access to Phone Call log to "Allow Muzio to check for potential viruses after calls" |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1lat6as/muzio_music_player_100m_downloads_on_google_play/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=13 Jun 2025 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260507191852/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1lat6as/muzio_music_player_100m_downloads_on_google_play/ |archive-date=7 May 2026}}</ref> music-playing [[Android]] app available on the [[Google Play]] store. The default is a free ad-supported version, with a weekly subscription for the ad-free premium.
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| ==Background==
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| [[File:Muzio Player phone permission screenshot.png|right|frameless|x450px]]
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| Sometime in February 2025, the permissions "READ_PHONE_STATE" and "ANSWER_PHONE_CALLS" were added. These permissions became progressively more intrusive, culminating in the incident below.<ref name="reddit-muzio" />
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| ==Muzio Player update introduces mandatory phone permissions==
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| In March 2025,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nguyen |first=Phuc |title=Music Player - MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=7 Mar 2025 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=dead <!-- Marked as dead due to the great difficulty of searching for specific review posts. -Sojourna --> |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260508235621/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Phuc_Nguyen.png |archive-date=8 May 2026}}</ref> Red Sky Labs made an unannounced update to Muzio Player that made access to the user's phone logs, contacts, and other related aspects required. Refusing the new permissions would cause the application to not function.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Strimaitis II |first=Robert |title=Music Player - MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=21 Mar 2025 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509002656/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Robert_Strimaitis_II.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Whitton |first=Brent |title=Music Player - MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=10 Jun 2025 |access-date=30 Apr 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509014327/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Brent_Whitton.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Brandy |title=Music Player - MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=15 Jul 2025 |access-date=30 Apr 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509005416/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Brandy_Anderson.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=BrightOrganization9 |title=Muzio Music Player (100M+ Downloads on Google Play Store) claims it needs access to Phone Call log to "Allow Muzio to check for potential viruses after calls" |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1lat6as/muzio_music_player_100m_downloads_on_google_play/mzz6n8q/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=26 Jun 2025 |access-date=8 May 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509021324/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1lat6as/muzio_music_player_100m_downloads_on_google_play/mzz6n8q/ |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref> According to the information given by the app, it was for an "After Call" feature that dealt with scanning for viruses.<ref name="reddit-muzio" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pruitt |first=Justin |title=Music Player - MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=30 Apr 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509011248/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Justin_Pruitt.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref>
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| ===Red Sky Labs' response===
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| Due to the persisting negative reception from the community, Red Sky Labs made a statement on 17 February 2026 confirming that it had removed the phone permissions and the "After Call" feature.
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| <blockquote>[...] Those phone log permissions and the After Call feature were absolutely a mistake. We've completely removed them to prioritize your privacy[...] Please update to the latest version; we're committed to a clean, music-focused experience!<ref name="mills">{{Cite web |last=Mills |first=Jonathan |title=Music Player — MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=20 Jul 2025 |access-date=6 May 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509000642/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Jonathan_Mills.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref></blockquote>
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| ==Consumer response==
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| The reaction was negative, with many either updating their old reviews — or submitting new ones if for the first time — to a one-star rating. The most common complaints were:
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| *Invasion of privacy<ref>{{Cite web |author=Qais Arsala official |title=Music Player — MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=10 Jun 2025 |access-date=30 Apr 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509012233/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Qais_Arsala_official.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref>
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| *Unable to use the app if access was refused, even on the premium version<ref>{{Cite web |author=Aran Christoper Fisher |title=Music Player — MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=16 Mar 2025 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509003733/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Aran_Christoper_Fisher.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref>
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| *Advertising on the call screen or the app's UI overlay in general interfering with the phone app's UI<ref>{{Cite web |last=Buckley |first=Joe |title=Joe Buckley's Post |url=https://www.facebook.com/joe.buckley.547/posts/24190436353884612/ |website=[[Facebook]] |date=5 Jul 2025 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2026-0507-1404-43/https://www.facebook.com:443/joe.buckley.547/posts/24190436353884612/ |archive-date=7 May 2026}}</ref>
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| *Bloatware since anti-virus scanning was a completely unrelated field for a music player to expand into<ref name="mills" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rankine |first=Gordon |title=Music Player — MP3 Player (formerly Muzio Player) |url=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shaiban.audioplayer.mplayer |website=[[Google Play]] |date=18 Jul 2025 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260509015320/https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Muzio_Player_Google_Play_review_-_Gordon_Rankine.png |archive-date=9 May 2026}}</ref>
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| One enterprising individual decided to investigate this change for themselves and determined that no virus scanning was actually taking place:
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| <blockquote>"After clicking around on the application, fortunately nothing suspicious came up. Lots of calls were made to websites made for advertisement with some information about the device being sent. [...]<br />
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| The application never made any kind of virus scan after the calls, it just displayed more advertisement than in the app and on startup[...] Fortunately it was “just” that and not for some sort of other shady stuff."<ref>{{Cite web |author=Krypton |title=Investigating a music player app that claims to scan against viruses |url=https://krypton.ninja/blog/investigating-a-music-player-app-that-claims-to-scan-against-viruses/ |website=krypton.ninja |date=13 Feb 2026 |access-date=7 May 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/zizGh |archive-date=8 May 2026}}</ref></blockquote>
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| ==See also==
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| *[[Red Sky Labs Muzio Player Premium post-purchase terms change]]
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist}}
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| <!-- [[Category:Red Sky Labs]]
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| [[Category:Muzio Player]]
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| -->
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