As you might have heard, there was a recent discovery of a particularly severe FaceTime bug which allowed the caller to listen in on the person they were calling without that person having to answer the call. Apple has since disabled the Group FaceTime feature while they work on a fix, and have since issued an apology.In a statement made to 9to5Mac, the company says, “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.” What’s interesting about this statement is that Apple also acknowledges the Thompson family for pointing it out to them.
For those unfamiliar, Apple was initially warned about the FaceTime bug a week or so before it blew up on social media. It was brought to their attention by Grant Thompson, a teen in Arizona who discovered the bug while trying to set up a Group FaceTime call for Fortnite. The teen and his mom reached out to Apple, who they claim did not seem to take them seriously.
However in Apple’s statement, they thank the Thompson family and note that the fix should be arriving this week. “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.”