Apple releases fix for FaceTime bug

Apple released an iPhone update Thursday to fix a bug in its FaceTime app that allowed callers to listen in on other devices even if their calls had not been accepted.

The repair is included in the latest update to Apple’s iOS 12 system available Thursday, according to The Associated Press. 

Apple had temporarily shut down the group feature of the popular app while it worked to develop a permanent fix to the bug.

{mosads}“We sincerely apologize to our customers who were affected and all who were concerned about this security issue,” the company said in a statement last week. “We appreciate everyone’s patience as we complete this process.”

The bug sparked concerns over users’ privacy, with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last week calling for the company to address the problem “with serious emergency mitigations, followed as soon as possible by a software update that removes the flaw.”

The FaceTime malfunction comes after Apple CEO Tim Cook endorsed strengthening privacy laws and excoriated Facebook and Twitter for not doing enough to protect their users, according to the AP.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), who leads the panel’s consumer protection subcommittee, demanded answers from Cook over the bug this week.

“As such, we are writing to better understand when Apple first learned of this security flaw, the extent to which the flaw has compromised consumers’ privacy, and whether there are other undisclosed bugs that currently exist and have not been addressed,” they wrote to Cook on Tuesday.

Pallone and Schakowsky also sent a list of questions to Apple, asking when the company first became aware of the bug, demanding a full timeline of the incident and inquiring if there have been any other bugs that were not disclosed.