‘Catastrophic’ Google Chrome update wipes data from people’s phones without their permission

GOOGLE has been forced to hit the brakes on an update to its Google Chrome browser after users reported the free download was wreaking havoc on their apps. Chrome 79 is the latest update to the world’s most popular web browser and last week began rolling out to its 1billion users. Furious early recipients reported […]

GOOGLE has been forced to hit the brakes on an update to its Google Chrome browser after users reported the free download was wreaking havoc on their apps.

Chrome 79 is the latest update to the world’s most popular web browser and last week began rolling out to its 1billion users.

Getty - Contributor

Google Chrome users have reported ‘major issues’ with the browser’s latest update[/caption]

Furious early recipients reported it was wiping data on some apps on Android phones.

The issue appeared to only affect apps that used Android’s built-in WebView, which allows you to view web pages within an app.

Some apps, such as DuckDuckGo, rely entirely on WebView to operate.

In a bug report on Friday, Google announced it had pulled the plug on the update until further notice.

© 2019 SOPA Img

Problems were apparently caused by the migration of files between Chrome 78 – the previous version of the browser – and Chrome 79.

“We are currently discussing the correct strategy for resolving this issue which will be one of: a.) continue the migration, moving the missed files into their new locations; b.) revert the change by moving migrated files to their old locations,” a Google developer explained.

“We will let you know which of these two options have been chosen soon.”

Google automatically updates Chrome in the background, meaning you needn’t have manually downloaded it to have been hit by the bug.

It’s possible millions of users have had apps wiped of data without their knowledge.

Writing on Google’s message boards, enraged users described the update as a “catastrophe” and a “major issue” after losing data on third-party apps.

“I’m sorry for the data loss! I know from experience that it’s really frustrating to have to deal with a problem that you have little control over, and I understand that losing data puts you in very difficult positions,” a different Google developer wrote in response.

“This issue is marked P0 [highest priority] so, at this point, we don’t need more reminders about how important this is for you.”

Google has not yet released a list of the apps that were affected. The Sun has reached out to Google for comment.

In other news, a recent Chrome bug let hackers hijack people’s computers.

Chrome users were warned in August that up to 4million of them may have had their photos and videos nicked.

And, Google is allegedly building a new Facebook rival called Shoelace that’s like Tinder for making friends.

Were you affected by the Google Chrome bug? If so, let us know in the comments!

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