Hi, I’m experimenting with the Find my Device feature. It works for the most part except that every time my phone receives an SMS with the secret code, it triggers a dialog which requires confirmation before the location information is sent. The dialog reads “Find my Device is sending a large number of SMS messages. Do you want to allow this app to continue sending messages?” and gives options to “Deny” and “Allow”. Unless I explicitely select “Allow”, the location information isn’t sent.
To me, this defeats the purpose of using Find my Device in the first place. If my device is stolen, the location is sent only if the thief confirms sending the location. If my device is lost, it still relies on it being found by someone and confirming the dialog. In either case, the device has to be unlocked, too, only then the dialog is displayed. This makes the first situation worse and the second situation highly unlikely.
Despite what the dialog reads, there’s only ever the one SMS sent in response. As far as I can tell, the claim “a large number of SMS messages” being sent isn’t true. I tried searching for a setting or a permission to have the dialog be automatically confirmed (e.g. switching from “ask every time” to “always allow”) but haven’t found any.
I’m on Fairphone 6, /e/OS 3.5-a15-20260211580868-official-FP6, a single SIM, and I’m using the default Message app.
Hmm, do you think this is a carrier-side issue then? The other article linked to mentions a default OS-level limit of max. 30 messages within 30 minutes to any one contact but I definitely haven’t even come close to the threshold. I gave it a day’s rest and tried again but the issue persists.
The first article you reference seems to talk about a slightly different kind of situation. In the article, the OP says they’re developing a messaging app. I imagine the threshold is fairly easy to hit as they’re testing the prototype’s functionality. In my case, however, the prompt appears on the very first try. I get the feeling like perhaps the Find my Device functionality accidentally triggers whatever system API records the message count multiple times while composing the message?
If my device is lost, it still relies on it being found by someone and confirming the dialog. In either case, the device has to be unlocked, too, only then the dialog is displayed. This makes the first situation worse and the second situation highly unlikely.