Apple FaceTime is facing a bug that lets iPhone users reportedly hear the audio of the person they are calling even when the recipient has not picked up the call. Apple has said on Monday that it will issue a software patch later this week to fix the bug.
9to5Mac reported on this issue stating that the FaceTime bug lets you immediately hear the audio coming from the recipient’s phone even if the person on the other end has not accepted the call. This issue could be considered a potential privacy breach given someone can hear your conversations just by calling you on your FaceTime. The report points out that although it rings normally, one can essentially listen in on any iOS user.
Some other publications have individually tested the bug and confirmed this issue.
As per the reports, this is how you test the FaceTime bug:
- Start a FaceTime Video call with an iPhone contact.
- Whilst the call is dialing, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap Add Person.
- Add your own phone number in the Add Person screen.
- You will then start a group FaceTime call including yourself and the audio of the person you originally called, even if they haven’t accepted the call yet.
On the UI, it will look like the other person has joined the chat but on their actual device, it will still be ringing.
Forcing a connection like this shows a standard FaceTime call window on your device, but on the recipient’s phone, it still looks like the call has not been accepted. For this reason, the person on the other end won’t be able to know if you are listening in to their conversations. This issue raises major privacy concerns, especially because the ringing on the other phone stops as soon as the bug is initiated.
However, The bug requires a version of the iOS that supports group FaceTime so it might not affect the previous version of the iPhones.
Now you can answer for yourself on FaceTime even if they don’t answer🤒#Apple explain this.. pic.twitter.com/gr8llRKZxJ
— DEAD FRIENDS™ (@DeadFriendsCHI) January 28, 2019
Apple has said that it will fix the bug with a software patch in a week, in the meantime, the only way to stop someone from potentially listening in to your conversations is to disable the FaceTime on your device.