A bug has been discovered in Apple iOS which allows those calling through FaceTime to another Apple user to hear the audio at the other end regardless of whether the recipient of the call answers or rejects it.
The news, first broken by 9to5Mac, came out on Monday, January 28, when a Twitter user, Benji Mobb, took to social media to report the issue.
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
Apple acknowledged the breach and said that it will address the matter this week. "We're aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week," Apple said in a statement to CNET.
The bug turns any iPhone or Mac to a microphone and according to a report by The Verge, if the person rejects the call by pressing the power button, a video will be broadcast from their phone to the caller without their knowledge.
Reports claim that this bug has affected Apple devices with iOS 12.1 or later updates.
After testing FaceTime calls on the Mac, the reports state that since the Mac calls are longer, by default, there is more time to send the audio to the caller and the device can act as a bug for a longer duration.
Here's how the bug works
The bug depends on the FaceTime group call feature to work.
To see how the bug works for yourself, start a FaceTime video call > while the call is ringing, tap on Add person feature > add your phone number > start a FaceTime group call with yourself and the other person even if they haven't yet accepted the call.
You will then hear the audio of the other person from their device.
