Apple’s FaceTime service has been infected with an eerie bug that can be employed by ill-minded for the sole objective of spoofing or phishing.

According to 9To5Mac, a leading news portal on Apple products, the susceptibility arises from FaceTime’s group calling feature that lets everyone to listen in on you without picking up the call.

The iPhone maker claims that this technical flaw is on its way of getting solved by the end of the week.

With the enablement of this defect, people can start phishing on your activities. This bug is triggered by FaceTime’s ‘Add Person’ that helps you in accessing your phone’s microphone. Usually, you would view an incoming FaceTime call, but you will fail to realise that the person on the other side might not be able to listen to what you are saying. It is even more daunting when you tap the power or volume-reduction button; FaceTime allows the caller access to your selfie camera feed even when you have not answered the call.

How is iPhone FaceTime bug detected?

The FaceTime bug came into existence when you start a call with any number stored in the contact section of your iPhone, and you suddenly switch to group conversations.
Hence, you need to swipe up the screen in order to make the call and then click the ‘Add Person’ option.

Post that, you have to enter your number on the ‘Add Person’ screen to convert into a group call. There you’re! You would soon start receiving the audio feed from the recipient’s end.

iPhone models affected by this bug

This issue has been found evident on the recently launched iPhone models that include last year’s iPhone X, and the iPhone 8. However, it indicated that all iPhones, iPads running iOS 12.1 are deeply strangled by this bug.

Some users have even complained that they are unable to access the microphone since the recipient has deactivated ‘Do Not Disturb’ service on their device.

How to fix the bug?

The issue came out in the open when the users started highlighting the shortcomings caused by the bug on Twitter and Snapchat. Apple took the bug seriously and announced their decision of solving this bug as soon as possible.

A company spokesperson, however, asserted that they had identified the issue and they are on the verge of releasing a software update that would dissolve the bug.
It is worthy to be noted that Apple has made Group FaceTime temporarily unavailable for a substantial period.