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Apple on Thursday rolled out the iOS 12.1.4 update to fix a Group FaceTime bug that let users hear audio of the callee before they answer.
iDevice owners should upgrade their operating system ASAP to avoid prying eyes—and ears.
First reported by 9to5Mac last week, the glitch made it easy to eavesdrop on contacts. Simply start a FaceTime video chat, swipe up from the bottom to choose “Add Person,” type in your own phone number, and listen.
Before the patch, hackers could overhear anything the person’s mobile microphone picked up, not to mention see anything their front-facing camera detected.
Now, after more than a week offline, Cupertino has reinstated Group FaceTime, sans unintentional spyware.
The update is available for iPhone 5S and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation.
Release notes claim a “logic issue existed” in Group FaceTime, which was fixed “with improved state management.” As of Thursday evening, Apple’s System Status page noted the app had been restored.
The tech titan credited Daven Morris of Arlington, Texas, as well as Catalina Foothills High School student Grant Thompson—who with his mother Michele led Apple to turn off group chat during its investigation.
In return, the firm will compensate the Thompson family and make a monetary gift toward 14-year-old Grant’s education, according to Reuters, which did not publish exact figures.
It’s been a rough week for Apple, which faces multiple lawsuits and questions from lawmakers over the FaceTime incident.
Add to that the headline-making news that some iOS apps record users’ activity without permission, blatantly skirting Apple’s guidelines, and you’ve got what I’d call a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad start to 2019.
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