What does this mean and should I be worried??

[kevinmac1]

I have noticed a rather strange thing with my S21 Ultra. Whenever I play a YouTube video or any kind of video from a website, I pull down the main panel screen and it shows this(See below). It automatically starts playing. What does this mean and is my phone's activity being cast on some random device? I actually have never authorized or heard of this device before. I'm no expert but I actually never cast my phone anywhere, I just use my phone for texting and calling. I'm worried that someone is hacked my phone but I have all updates for my apps and am very discipline with updating.

 

[mikedt]

It looks like the Kodi media player app, that you've got installed there. https://kodi.tv/download/android
It's perfectly safe, and your device hasn't been "hacked"

 

[kevinmac1]

Ko

It looks like the Kodi media player app, that you've got installed there. https://kodi.tv/download/android
It's perfectly safe, and your device hasn't been "hacked"

Kodi Media player app on my phone?

 

[Dannydet]

Yes when you play a video, the kodi app is playing it, that's all. When you swipe down its just showing you the kodi icon.
Your device isn't hacked.

 

[ocnbrze]

hold on guys, i think that monitor icon means that the phone is casting content to somewhere. i can't trouble shoot as i am at work. but later today i'll check.

 

[kevinmac1]

Not sure why the kodi app would randomly come on. While I do have it installed on the phone, the app itself was never running.

 

[Dannydet]

If in doubt, disable Kodi and play a video, see what you get

 

[svim]

Not sure why the kodi app would randomly come on. While I do have it installed on the phone, the app itself was never running.

Whether you were or were not actively using the Kodi app isn't a factor. Simply because you don't see it on your screen does not mean that the Kodi app gets totally wiped from your phone's RAM. There are always going to be a lot of background services concurrently running in your phone's working memory, some are vital operating system services, some are from apps you used previously, it's just how Android's memory management functions. Old processes get flushed out as new processes are used.

 

[kevinmac1]

Whether you were or were not actively using the Kodi app isn't a factor. Simply because you don't see it on your screen does not mean that the Kodi app gets totally wiped from your phone's RAM. There are always going to be a lot of background services concurrently running in your phone's working memory, some are vital operating system services, some are from apps you used previously, it's just how Android's memory management functions. Old processes get flushed out as new processes are used.

But when I click "Kodi" and launch it. It shows nothing. Nothing is playing in Kodi.

 

[kevinmac1]

I restarted my phone and the first thing it started was that casting thing again.

 

[svim]

Well then find the device that's also connected to the same local network as your phone and turn it off so your phone can't auto-detect it. (Hopefully this doesn't affect some kind of established NAS set up or someone in your same household doesn't rely upon Kodi.)

 

[Dannydet]

Again, disable Kodi on your device.
Or uninstall it.
See what you get

 

[kevinmac1]

Whats a bit strange, its an off and on thing, like I restarted it the second time and it didn't show up....

 

[kevinmac1]

Again, disable Kodi on your device.
Or uninstall it.
See what you get

Fully uninstalled it "Andromeda Kodi" is still there and I can cast to it. Man I don't ever remember authorizing this and never would. How the hell this happened is beyond me. The main question I have is what does this mean, does this mean that my phone is being casted on that device? Sounds like someone was spying on me this entire time. Anyway I can verify this?

Just because a device is connected to the same wifi network, all someone has to do is connect to your device and they can see your phone without any verification code? That is freagin crazy! If I click "cast to" and select one of the devices, it juts casts to it right away without any kind of permission??

 

[svim]

So don't tap on that Kodi icon and ignore it. Simply because your phone detects there's a device using Kodi in your home network doesn't mean your phone is actually connected to it.
When your phone is detecting other nearby WiFi networks, that does not mean your phone is actually connected to any of them except for the one you actually chose. You apparently forgot that when you initially tried to connect to your home network's WiFi, you had to know the password to authenticate your phone. Unless you actually know all the passwords to all those other WiFi networks, your phone isn't connecting to them.

 

[ocnbrze]

when you uninstalled kodi, did you wipe cache and data first? if not there could be temp files still running that might be able to do this. if not then i would re-install it. wipe data and cache and then uninstall kodi again.

 

[kevinmac1]

So to clarify what this actually means is my Kodi app on MY phone was being casted somewhere which means only content from Kodi was casted(or trying to be casted since I was never using it) and not anything else like me browsing through my text messages etc?

 

[mikedt]

Fully uninstalled it "Andromeda Kodi" is still there and I can cast to it. Man I don't ever remember authorizing this and never would. How the hell this happened is beyond me. The main question I have is what does this mean, does this mean that my phone is being casted on that device? Sounds like someone was spying on me this entire time. Anyway I can verify this?

Just because a device is connected to the same wifi network, all someone has to do is connect to your device and they can see your phone without any verification code? That is freagin crazy! If I click "cast to" and select one of the devices, it juts casts to it right away without any kind of permission??

Is it your WiFi network, and is it secured with a PSK? If so, then the only things that Kodi could possibly streaming to are devices in your home, that you or other members of your family and household possess, e.g. smart-TVs.

 

[Dannydet]

Casting will only cast to your home wifi network.
And the only thing that will cast is videos that you are currently watching on your device.
It's not like your personal information is being transmitted. Chill out and move on

 

[ocnbrze]

So to clarify what this actually means is my Kodi app on MY phone was being casted somewhere which means only content from Kodi was casted(or trying to be casted since I was never using it) and not anything else like me browsing through my text messages etc?

no this means that somewhere on your network someone or some device used the KODI app. for me at home i have a chromecast and every time i use it, my phone sees that i am casting to my tv. it does not mean that your phone is casting the kodi app. it is some other device somewhere on the network.

 

[kevinmac1]

Ok so after checking further looks like its something totally different. Apparently, my phone is controlling a Kodi box in my house! I hit pause, it pauses there. I hit play, it plays there. I never have seen their Kodi box. Any idea how it would just connect like that and how do I dislodge it? Each time they turn on the box, the casting thing starts on my phone.

 

[Milo Williamson]

The drop down for youtube is that, and you can slide to the left to disable it You should not be worried of that front, but Kodi I am not so sure on it, first time we heard of it.

 

[ocnbrze]

Ok so after checking further looks like its something totally different. Apparently, my phone is controlling a Kodi box in my house! I hit pause, it pauses there. I hit play, it plays there. I never have seen their Kodi box. Any idea how it would just connect like that and how do I dislodge it? Each time they turn on the box, the casting thing starts on my phone.

The only way is to change the Google account on the kodi box is on.......I think.