Major iPhone FaceTime Bug

[Innocent Warrior]

Apple iPhone users, turn off your FaceTime. A bug has been discovered that allows others to listen to your conversations without you answering the call, and the discovery is currently making the rounds on social media.

Watch the clip in this tweet for a demonstration: https://mobile.twitter.com/BmManski/status/1089967572307640325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1089967572307640325&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F9to5mac.com%2F2019%2F01%2F28%2Ffacetime-bug-hear-audio%2F

For more details, from 9TO5Mac, Major iPhone FaceTime bug lets you hear the audio of the person you are calling ... before they pick up -

A significant bug has been discovered in FaceTime and is currently spreading virally over social media. The bug lets you call anyone with FaceTime, and immediately hear the audio coming from their phone — before the person on the other end has accepted or rejected the incoming call. Apple says the issue will be addressed in a software update “later this week”.

Naturally, this poses a pretty privacy problem as you can essentially listen in on any iOS user, although it still rings like normal, so you can’t be 100% covert about it. Nevertheless, there is no indication on the recipient’s side that you could hear any of their audio.

Update: There’s a second part to this which can expose video too …

9to5Mac has reproduced the FaceTime bug with an iPhone X calling an iPhone XR, but it is believed to affect any pair of iOS devices running iOS 12.1 or later.

Here’s how to do the iPhone FaceTime bug:


Start a FaceTime Video call with an iPhone contact.
Whilst the call is dialling, 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.


It will look like in the UI like the other person has joined the group chat, but on their actual device it will still be ringing on the lockscreen.

MORE (https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/28/facetime-bug-hear-audio/).

[Forest Denizen]

Apple iPhone users, turn off your FaceTime. A bug has been discovered that allows others to listen to your conversations without you answering the call, and the discovery is currently making the rounds on social media...

This is VERY interesting! Just yesterday, I was talking to my GF about a very odd thing that happened. A day or two previously, we had been on the phone discussing video cameras, she's been a professional magazine photographer for years but didn't know much about video and didn't want to use her iphone for the job.

We were having the discussion on our iphones (BTW, I think Samsung has surpassed Apple re their phones). The following day, I went to my Amazon account on my PC laptop to get something and there, in suggested products I might be interested in, was a series of different video cameras!!

Neither she nor I had done any kind of searches online for video cameras. The only time it had come up was in our conversations over iphones - not using Facetime, BTW!!

[Innocent Warrior]

Apple iPhone users, turn off your FaceTime. A bug has been discovered that allows others to listen to your conversations without you answering the call, and the discovery is currently making the rounds on social media...

This is VERY interesting! Just yesterday, I was talking to my GF about a very odd thing that happened. A day or two previously, we had been on the phone discussing video cameras, she's been a professional magazine photographer for years but didn't know much about video and didn't want to use her iphone for the job.

We were having the discussion on our iphones (BTW, I think Samsung has surpassed Apple re their phones). The following day, I went to my Amazon account on my PC laptop to get something and there, in suggested products I might be interested in, was a series of different video cameras!!

Neither she nor I had done any kind of searches online for video cameras. The only time it had come up was in our conversations over iphones - not using Facetime, BTW!!

Wow, I’ve read a few reports like that now.

From the 9TO5Mac article -


What we have also found is that if the person presses the Power button from the lock screen, their video is also sent to the caller — unbeknownst to them. In this situation, the receiver can now hear your own audio, but they do not know they are transmitting their audio and video back to you. From their perspective, all they can see is accept and decline. (Another update: It seems there are other ways of triggering the video feed eavesdrop too.)

When someone is calling you, if you don’t want to answer the call or to decline it, when you press the power button it will stop ringing your end (ringtone), regardless of whether they’ve ended it their end or not, a stealth way to mute the ringtone and ignore a call. So with this ‘bug’, if you do that it will then send them video from you. How sus is that. I think this was intentional.

And then there’s this to watch out for too -


We have also replicated the problem with an iPhone calling a Mac. By default, the Mac rings for longer than a phone so it can act as a bug for an even longer duration.

[ripple]

Apple has acknowledged the flaw in its FaceTime software that allowed for brief eavesdropping - even if the recipient did not pick up.


The company said it had developed a fix and an update would be rolled out this week.
In the meantime, Apple appears to have disabled the ability for users to make group calls on FaceTime.

As the Big O said ---- It's over

[Forest Denizen]

The company said it had developed a fix.

As the Big O said ---- It's over

Move along, nothing to see here..

[Pam]

Apple iPhone users, turn off your FaceTime. A bug has been discovered that allows others to listen to your conversations without you answering the call, and the discovery is currently making the rounds on social media...

This is VERY interesting! Just yesterday, I was talking to my GF about a very odd thing that happened. A day or two previously, we had been on the phone discussing video cameras, she's been a professional magazine photographer for years but didn't know much about video and didn't want to use her iphone for the job.

We were having the discussion on our iphones (BTW, I think Samsung has surpassed Apple re their phones). The following day, I went to my Amazon account on my PC laptop to get something and there, in suggested products I might be interested in, was a series of different video cameras!!

Neither she nor I had done any kind of searches online for video cameras. The only time it had come up was in our conversations over iphones - not using Facetime, BTW!!

Although this is a bit off topic, it relates to your post, Forest. I was looking online on my computer at small SUV cars. Later that afternoon, I was looking at a youtube video and sure enough every add was for various SUV type cars. The advertisements of that type have continued..really creepy.

If it is that easy to have a flaw in an app that allows joe average the ability to listen to someone before they pick up, it seems pretty apparent that there is an app that has been created just for that purpose of listening to someone without them being aware of it. It may not be available to the masses. Just think about that reality.

[Forest Denizen]

The advertisements of that type have continued..really creepy.

If it is that easy to have a flaw in an app that allows joe average the ability to listen to someone before they pick up, it seems pretty apparent that there is an app that has been created just for that purpose of listening to someone without them being aware of it. It may not be available to the masses. Just think about that reality.

Yes, peterpam, whether directly related to the FaceTime bug or not, I found it VERY disturbing that the only possible way my perceived interest in video cameras could have been gleaned, was audibly!

[Pam]

The advertisements of that type have continued..really creepy.

If it is that easy to have a flaw in an app that allows joe average the ability to listen to someone before they pick up, it seems pretty apparent that there is an app that has been created just for that purpose of listening to someone without them being aware of it. It may not be available to the masses. Just think about that reality.

Yes, peterpam, whether directly related to the FaceTime bug or not, I found it VERY disturbing that the only possible way my perceived interest in video cameras could have been gleaned, was audibly!

Does that mean that there is an app that can pick up words and conversations strictly for the purpose of selling things?? If this is true, than the act of listening to anyone someone wants to listen to at any time must be child's play. Most people always have their phones near them. That paints a very chilling picture, doesn't it.