Early this morning, OnePlus 7 Pro users received a couple of push notifications through OnePlus’ push notification system that showed a bunch of random characters. Users were (rightfully) alarmed and confused, but OnePlus has already weighed-in to say that the messages were a mistake and they’ll do better in the future.
OnePlus, through a statement to their forums, said that they will perform an “in-depth investigation with the related teams to identify the cause.” They also pointed out that they use Google FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) for their push function and that your personal data is not at risk, nor did they get hacked. This was all a big testing error.
We sincerely apologize for the two accidental notification push messages that some OnePlus 7 Pro users received 2 hours ago.
As soon as we noticed the mistake, we performed a round of in-depth investigations with the related teams to identify the cause. The push messages occurred while the OxygenOS team was conducting a software test for the upcoming Android Q system update. Due to an error during the testing process, we accidentally pushed a routine test message to some of our OnePlus 7 Pro OxygenOS users.
The notification push function is designed mainly as a survey tool to help us better understand our users’ feedback and to further improve the user experience, and is based on the Google FCM (Firebase Cloud Messaging) Protocol. Therefore, we want to reassure that this incident does not indicate any risks for your personal data.
We are immediately implementing new processes to ensure this cannot happen again.
Confused as to how OnePlus has a built-in push notification system that can send you random messages at any time? Well, they can do that because they do indeed have a built-in push notification system that you may not have been aware of.
During setup, you were likely asked if you wanted to be a part of OnePlus’ “Experience improvement programs” where you had three options to check: OnePlus Notifications, User Experience Program, and System Stability Program. If you left that first option turned on, you are allowing OnePlus to send you push notifications with official OnePlus news, product info, questionnaires, and purchase recommendations or coupon info.
If you think you might have missed that during setup, head into Settings>System>Experience improvement programs to turn on or off any of those three.