Apple has now publicly apologized for the FaceTime bug that has been a concerning issue this week. In a statement provided to MacRumors, Apple said it’s working to push an update that would permanently fix the bug.
We have fixed the Group FaceTime security bug on Apple’s servers and we will issue a software update to re-enable the feature for users next week. We thank the Thompson family for reporting the bug. We sincerely apologize to our customers who were affected and all who were concerned about this security issue. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we complete this process.
– Apple
We want to assure our customers that as soon as our engineering team became aware of the details necessary to reproduce the bug, they quickly disabled Group FaceTime and began work on the fix. We are committed to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible. We take the security of our products extremely seriously and we are committed to continuing to earn the trust Apple customers place in us.
The FaceTime bug in question allows users to hear through the receiver’s phone without them actually accepting the call. The bug worked if you added yourself again as another contact in the group FaceTime, you could then hear through the other person’s phone. Since it’s discovery, Apple has taken down FaceTime feature on their end. If you visit Apple’s support page, FaceTime turns up as unavailable.
This is a temporary solution, but at least it gives Apple time to breath and prevents any ill-attempts againsts people who might still be unaware of this issue. We’ll keep you posted once the update is out.
