Serious FaceTime Bug Lets You Hear a Person's Audio Before They Answer [Update: And See Video]

[AngerDanger]

So Apple unintentionally built a backdoor for people who'd like to hear just how little their friends want to talk to them?

 

[neuropsychguy]

Didn’t work for me. I tried with a friend a few times following the steps

Worked for me when trying it with my wife.

 

[Scooz]

You may not understand that despite loads of QC, beta testings, etc, software bugs still manage to slip through under the right set of conditions and circumstances. Especially with respect to complex software.

I've yet to see 100% perfection. From anyone.

You may totally miss the point.

Accessing a user’s phone’s mic without them interacting/allowing it is so against all iOS conventions and far beyond a simple bug.

Nothing should ever happen on my side of that call if I don’t move that darn slider.

 

[citysnaps]

You may totally miss the point.

Accessing a user’s phone’s mic without them interacting/allowing it is so against all iOS conventions and far beyond a simple bug.

Nothing should ever happen on my side of that call if I don’t move that darn slider.

No, not missing the point at all. Software bugs will always slip through, even those that are not simple. Period.

 

[dtmpowerm5]

I've noticed this for around a year!

I just tested it and could hear my wife talking to my dog. Unreal. This could be a lawsuit in the making..

 

[richard371]

Imagine calling someones other half and they don't pick up the call but you can hear things going on in the background lol.

 

[TheLisnakFactor]

Wouldn't call this serious as it doesn't affect many people, doesn't destroy data, ...

It has the potential to allow someone to call into a confidential meeting and listen in. Most people ignore their phone when it rings if they are busy, not click ignore. That means the caller - let's say an unknown spam caller that everyone just ignores - can listen to what you are saying. This is terrible.

 

[cppguy]

Test engineers should have caught this very easily.

 

[noraa]

What’s the purpose of going through 6-7 betas and stuff like this goes unnoticed.

Considering iOS 12 has been out for a little over 4 months, and this was just discovered, kind of answers your question.

 

[techguy9]

Video is affected as well: https://twitter.com/backlon/status/1090048543451164674?s=21

 

[stylinexpat]

The person you are calling still has the someone would like to FaceTime screen, even though no more ringing.


Facetime Video. Haven't tested Audio.

If that person declines or hangs up then it gets disconnected, right?

 

[richard371]

I know some politicians id love to test this on if I had their number.

 

[bgro]

This is obviously a feature.

Can’t innovate my ass..

 

[Madmic23]

It's a good thing that Apple is using privacy as a selling feature!

 

[logicstudiouser]

Yikes, that sounds like a pretty bad bug. Good thing I don't use FaceTime.

 

[jameslmoser]

Wouldn't call this serious as it doesn't affect many people, doesn't destroy data, ...

Doesn't affect many people??? Apparently anybody who has an iphone is affected unless they disabled facetime!

 

[HansHeino]

I know some politicians id love to test this on if I had their number.

Sometimes you only need their email address...

 

[CoachRocks]

Apple's CES ad coming back to bite in the ass, big time. This guys can't seem to catch a break these days.

 

[hxlover904]

this seems to be fixed in the latest beta. at least if the phone initiating the call has the beta, it doesn't work.

 

[Chloros]

This takes privacy to a whole new level.

 

[C DM]

What’s the purpose of going through 6-7 betas and stuff like this goes unnoticed.

To deal with things that do get noticed.

Also: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dio-before-they-answer.2167278/#post-27042833

 

[Suttree]

Gotta love Apple's integrated approach. Seriously, enough is enough. Fire Tim Cook, fire Jony Ive, fire Craig Federighi. Bring back Scott Forstall. This is what happens when you have a fashion designer run a COMPUTER company.

 

[elektrizitat]

a standard Group FaceTime call sans video

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Why does macrumors constantly use ‘sans’ instead of ‘without’? Is this an American thing? Or should I expect more random French words in the future?

 

[Shanpdx]

they are busy making Original Series and Films

Do not have money for their IT staff. oh poor apple.

 

[DNichter]

Doesn’t happen for me. It’ll be fixed in a couple days.

 

[C DM]

Test engineers should have caught this very easily.

Should have, or at least would have been really good if they did, sure. Easily, let alone very easily, that's very debatable.
[doublepost=1548725235][/doublepost]

Gotta love Apple's integrated approach. Seriously, enough is enough. Fire Tim Cook, fire Jony Ive, fire Craig Federighi. Bring back Scott Forstall. This is what happens when you have a fashion designer run a COMPUTER company.

This is fairly basic reality that doesn't really involve any of those things. (Bugs, including rather bad ones, even happened under Steve Jobs.)