It's possible Facebook could be using an exclusive method to access hardware more directly, much like how Uber had access to restricted developer debugging tools which allowed them to record the screen even when the app was closed.
If you want to get paranoid... Maybe it can detect jailbreak and do nothing. or even better, detect jail break, use it to detect if there is hooks into the audioRecord interface, if no hooks, record even more with it's new found powers :)
Do you have the hashes to prove that what you tested matches what is actually installed elsewhere?
No, I'm not actually claiming there actually are different versions in the wild. I just find it strange that anybody can make broad claims about what widespread software may or may not be doing. Widespread use of "A/B testing" and forced remote updates should make everyone question the nature of every binary, even when they have the same name (including version number).
Fb's well known for large scale A/B testing though. Isn't it more than possible that the binaries/versions/etc that you tested simply weren't part of the test?
On the Android side, it's not terribly difficult to send a copy of the app to a computer and decompile it. Then you can simply search for any code that invokes the Android function for mic access.
Delete Uber for a good reason, such as the fact that ride sharing makes driving unreliable as a source of income. Professional drivers have seen their incomes decrease and hours increase drastically.
The article in question starts out breathlessly accusing Uber of spying on users, only to completely walk back the claim by the end. Just by reading the article alone we see that the permission was granted to overcome a capability lapse in the Apple Watch.
Seems like an insufficient reason to me. Many software developers automate processes which in turn eliminates jobs entirely. It's a little different, but still a case of one person/group benefitting at the cost of another's livelihood.
It is, however when building a mobile substrate tweak, you have visibility / access to the headers of every single system class. One could theoretically hook into any number of audio recording mechanisms (assuming they knew where to look ;) )