A major bug in Apple's FaceTime video calling system has been discovered that lets a user listen to your microphone and potentially see through your camera without you answering the call.
It appears the bug may have been discovered by Twitter user Benji Mobb who posted a demo video earlier today.
Now you can answer for yourself on FaceTime even if they don’t answer #Apple explain this..
The bug was confirmed by BuzzFeedNews reporter Nicole Nguyen who noticed that the remote iPhone's camera is enabled if the user presses the volume down but as they might to silence the call.
After the call recipient pressed the volume-down button, footage from the iPhone 8's front-facing camera could be seen on the iPhone X — even though the call recipient using the iPhone 8 had not answered the call.
To replicate this bug simply initiate a FaceTime call to someone, swipe up, then add yourself to the call.
In a statement to BuzzFeed, an Apple spokesperson said the company is "aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week."
UPDATE:
To make matters worse, we have verified that this bug works when calling a Mac as well.
UPDATE 2:
Apple has temporarily disabled Group FaceTime to mitigate the bug.
We strongly advise you disable FaceTime on all your devices until the issue has been fixed.
● How to Disable FaceTime on Your Mac
● How to Disable FaceTime on Your iPhone
You can follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates. Give it a try and let us know if it works for you in the comments!
It appears the bug may have been discovered by Twitter user Benji Mobb who posted a demo video earlier today.
Now you can answer for yourself on FaceTime even if they don’t answer #Apple explain this..
Now you can answer for yourself on FaceTime even if they don’t answer #Apple explain this.. pic.twitter.com/gr8llRKZxJ
— Benji Mobb™ (@BmManski) January 28, 2019
The bug was confirmed by BuzzFeedNews reporter Nicole Nguyen who noticed that the remote iPhone's camera is enabled if the user presses the volume down but as they might to silence the call.
After the call recipient pressed the volume-down button, footage from the iPhone 8's front-facing camera could be seen on the iPhone X — even though the call recipient using the iPhone 8 had not answered the call.
— nic nguyen (@itsnicolenguyen) January 29, 2019
To replicate this bug simply initiate a FaceTime call to someone, swipe up, then add yourself to the call.
In a statement to BuzzFeed, an Apple spokesperson said the company is "aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week."
UPDATE:
To make matters worse, we have verified that this bug works when calling a Mac as well.
UPDATE 2:
Apple has temporarily disabled Group FaceTime to mitigate the bug.
We strongly advise you disable FaceTime on all your devices until the issue has been fixed.
● How to Disable FaceTime on Your Mac
● How to Disable FaceTime on Your iPhone
You can follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates. Give it a try and let us know if it works for you in the comments!