--- title: "Bizarre Apple Bug Let FaceTime Callers Spy on Each Other" description: "A bombshell report revealed a shocking Apple bug in the company's FaceTime video chat app that lets callers eavesdrop on other users before they pick up." date: "2019-01-29" modified: "2019-01-29" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/apple-bug-facetime-callers-eavesdrop" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "apple" - "facetime" - "security" - "the digest" --- # Bizarre Apple Bug Let FaceTime Callers Spy on Each Other ![A bombshell report revealed a shocking Apple bug in the company's FaceTime video chat app that lets callers eavesdrop on other users before they pick up.]() *\Image: Tag Hartman-Simkins\* ## Bug Bombshell A [bombshell report]() this week by *9to5Mac* revealed a shocking new Apple bug: FaceTime, the company's popular video chat app, lets callers eavesdrop on other users before they pick up. The bug serves as a stark warning that digital security remains, in many ways, the Wild West — and that even the world's largest software corporations can't yet guarantee they're not shipping products that people with no training as hackers can exploit. ## Unprecedented Response Due to the Apple bug, if an iPhone user called a contact, then added themselves to a group chat while the call was still dialing, they could listen to the contact's audio before they even answered the call. An Apple spokesperson [initially said]() the company was "aware of this issue" and had "identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week." Apple [later took the drastic move]() of taking Group FaceTime offline entirely while it fixes the exploit. ## Apple Attack In a thoughtful analysis, *Wired*'s Brian Barrett [wrote that]() the exploit is alarming both because of the deep access it provides to victims' digital lives and because, unlike many high-profile hacks, it requires no particular technical skills. "The implications are clear," Barrett wrote. "While it’s not the sort of high-wire attack you’d find a nation state trying to pull off to steal intel secrets, it has deep potential consequences on a personal level. Even a few seconds of eavesdropping on an unguarded moment — especially when the target is deciding whether to pick up your call — is an unacceptable breach of privacy." **READ MORE:** [Major iPhone FaceTime Bug Lets You Hear the Audio of the Person You Are Calling … Before They Pick Up]() \[*9to5Mac*\] ***More on security:*** [Secret iOS Source Code Has Leaked Onto the Internet]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()