That's good in that case. It sounds like the developers then need to make sure they only access the camera (or microphone) when needed/expected and then appropriately terminate that access as soon as it's no longer needed/expected.
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Bug Blamed for Instagram Unexpectedly Accessing Camera in iOS 14
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Yep. As I said, basically all of these issues (including the clipboard access ones) come down to bugs as a result of sloppy code rather than anything malicious. In fact, I’d venture to say that the user-facing camera/microphone indicator in iOS 14 is the first “developer tool” that Apple’s shipped to directly see when and whether one’s app is actually accessing those components. Other than that, as far as I know there were only indirect hints (like increased energy usage) that something was afoot.
If nothing else, hopefully the iOS 14 beta cycle will encourage most developers to resolve these issues before the public release this fall, lest they face the wrath of folks jumping to conclusions. That is the point of the betas, I suppose!
Anyone with even a modest amount of coding experience knows that camera access is NOT a bug.
Next they'll simply say it's a glitch.
Remember, don't cover your MacBook camera or you'll hurt the NSA, I mean the screen.
The macbook has an LED to notify user that the camera is on. The iPhone does not, thus the warnings in iOS14 is extremely useful.
It’s amazing how many companies have all the same “bugs”
Reality can sometimes, if not even fairly often, be stranger than fiction.
It's somewhat amusing to me that I deactivated my Facebook account in late 2011/early 2012, and was told that they would only keep the data for six months. I deactivated my account because I didn't believe anything that they were saying already, so their informational message didn't move me. Years later, I accidentally tapped the Facebook icon in a game and it sent me to a inescapable Facebook login page.
I expunged the app and restarted my phone. When I checked my mail, I had a message from Facebook telling me that I could re-join at any time and that they would re-instate my data.
Currently, I have Instagram, but I only give them a little bit of trust because they always told you that you couldn't revive an account to an e-mail address, nor use that e-mail address to create another account.
Kudos to Apple implementing these privacy/camera indicators so we can nix these outrageous spying
It certainly would have been even better if this sort of thing has been available even earlier.
My maxim is never install a third party app if you can use Safari for the same purpose. Obviously this isn't without risk and you will be safer if you're also using a VPN and/or a trusted content/tracking blocker, but I view all third party apps with suspicion, especially free ones. You can be reasonably assured that no one is able to covertly access the camera and microphone in Safari.
Certainly, but security and privacy are ever-evolving subjects. Third parties will look at what they can get away with at any given time and do so until that practice becomes wide-spread and / or disruptive enough to be prevented. Rinse, repeat.
You could always react faster with these things. Just like people could stop loading themselves with sugar sooner rather than later. But, well, it seems we're prone to letting things go on for too long.
Well, Apple did introduce Reachability when they released large-screened iPhones. They didn't have to Implement anything like it but it was pretty nice for anyone with smaller hands.
Sure, but seems like in this case those sort of things have already been through of before given that camera and microphone access permission system has been in place for some time, which means that notification of their use was something that could have been accounted for as well as part of that basically. Again, it's good that it's finally there, but doesn't really seem like there was much in the way of having it there before.
Only Apple would know for sure of course, but my guess is that 1) Apple has to prioritize development of new features, so even if implementing something sooner would make a lot of sense to users on this forum it might not be possible and 2) maybe Apple figured the permissions dialog was a good first step to see if devs would revolt (they didn't, in any meaningful way) and if their customers would be smart about denying apps access (they weren't or, in the case of some apps, couldn't).
Remember that in iOS 14 Apple is also making it possible to give apps access only to specific photos. Clearly Apple recognizes that some apps need access to photos to be useful so an all-or-nothing permission dialog doesn't really give users a meaningful option to safeguard their data.
Personally I think having to manually select individual photos potentially from a very long list, potentially in multiple apps, is perhaps not the best user experience, though. It might be smarter to (also) be able to give access to specific albums. Users could then create custom albums and add to them any photos they're willing to give apps access to on a per-app basis.
But that's just me.
It also says to me that Apple knows there are companies out there doing it yet haven't reprimanded them for it. This will force Facebook to double down on trying to circumvent the green dot rather than stop doing what they were.
Facebook is a virus itself. Why would anyone install their products? Insane when we already know what we know about the company, never mind these things.
These are not bug or glitches. This is purely intentional even for mic, more so or often. If you say something in person and suddenly either IG or FB would suggest or recommend what was discussed. As if these app were listening in. That happened to me and few of my friends several times.
We should open a petition for Apple to implement a timer for camera/mic/photo/calendar/contacts “While using App/Ask me next time/Ask me Always” instead of Allow Camera/Microphone/Photo/Calendar/Contacts set to “Always”. This is beyond disturbing. This has got to stop.
We should open a petition for Apple to implement a timer for camera/mic/photo/calendar/contacts “While using App/Ask me next time/Ask me Always” instead of Allow Camera/Microphone/Photo/Calendar/Contacts set to “Always”. This is beyond disturbing. This has got to stop.
Some users have noticed that Instagram is unexpectedly accessing the camera, reports The Verge.
Users have reported that the green "camera on" indicator was displayed in iOS 14 when scrolling through their feed, but not taking a photo or a video. In a statement to The Verge, a spokesperson for Instagram said that the behavior was a bug and is being fixed.
Instagram's bug is the latest in a series of unexpected app behavior controversies revealed by iOS 14's aggressive privacy notifications. iOS 14 notifies users when an app or widget pastes text from the clipboard or accesses the camera or microphone. Since the release of the iOS 14 developer and public beta, a large number of popular apps, such as LinkedIn, Reddit, and TikTok, have been discovered to be covertly accessing clipboard data.
Last year, Instagram's parent company, Facebook, was found to be accessing the camera in the background whenever the app was in use, without the users' knowledge.
Article Link: Bug Blamed for Instagram Unexpectedly Accessing Camera in iOS 14
USA Today is accessing the clipboard as well.
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