MacRumors

There's a major bug in FaceTime right now that lets you connect to someone and hear their audio without the person even accepting the call.

This bug is making the rounds on social media, and as 9to5Mac points out, there are major privacy concerns involved. You can force a ‌FaceTime‌ call with someone and hear what they're saying, perhaps even without their knowledge.

We tested the bug at MacRumors and were able to initiate a ‌FaceTime‌ call with each other where we could hear the person on the other end without ever having pressed the button to accept the call. To exploit the bug, all you have to do is add your own phone number to a ‌FaceTime‌ call you've already initiated, which apparently creates a major ‌FaceTime‌ issue.

These are the steps:

1. Initiate a ‌FaceTime‌ call with someone.
2. While the call is ringing, swipe up from the bottom of the display.
3. Tap on the "Add Person" button.
4. Add your own phone number when it asks for the number of the person to add.

Adding your own phone number to Group ‌FaceTime‌ a second time causes the call between both parties to connect. You can hear the person on the other end and they can hear you, even though the call wasn't accepted.

When you force a connection this way, your screen looks like a standard Group ‌FaceTime‌ call sans video, but on the other person's screen, it still looks like the call hasn't been accepted.

For this reason, the other person can't necessarily tell that you're listening in to their audio, which has huge privacy implications, especially because the ringing stops as soon as the bug is initiated. We were able to get this to work on various iOS devices running iOS 12.1.3 and iOS 12.2, and on a Mac running the latest version of macOS Mojave.

There appears to be no way to avoid this bug short of disabling FaceTime on iOS and macOS entirely, so it's likely Apple will implement a fix quickly. This bug is an audio only bug, so the person FaceTiming you does not get access to your video feed.

We do not recommend or condone following these above steps to invade on other peoples' privacy, and we are sharing them only so MacRumors readers can be aware of the issue to protect themselves.

Update: As The Verge points out, you can also covertly see someone's video. If you follow the steps above and the person on the other end presses the power button on their device to make the call go away, it activates their video. Once their video is activated, all sound is muted, so there is no indication on their end that their video is visible to a third-party person who has FaceTimed them.

The video above demonstrates the issue and how easy it is to execute with just a few taps in the ‌FaceTime‌ app.

Update 2: Apple appears to have temporarily addressed the issue by disabling Group ‌FaceTime‌ calls server side. On Apple's System Status page, Group ‌FaceTime‌ is now listed as unavailable.

The United States Justice Department today announced a series of criminal charges against Chinese smartphone maker Huawei for stealing trade secrets, bank fraud, wire fraud, and obstructing justice.

In the first of two indictments unsealed this afternoon, the Justice Department accuses Huawei, Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, and two affiliates of bank and wire fraud.

Huawei is said to have misled a global bank and U.S. authorities about its relationship with subsidiaries Skycom and Huawei Device USA to conduct business in Iran despite sanctions, conducting millions of dollars in business. Huawei is accused of lying to the government, destroying documents, and attempting to move key Huawei employees back to China to impede the investigation.

A second indictment accuses Huawei of stealing trade secrets, wire fraud, and obstructing justice for stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile U.S. for testing smartphone durability.

Huawei violated confidentiality agreements with T-Mobile when it stole information on "Tappy," a T-Mobile robot designed to mimic human fingers to test smartphones back in 2012. Huawei employees secretly took photos of the robot, measured it, and stole components. T-Mobile won a $4.8 million lawsuit against Huawei in 2017 over the dispute.

All in all, the U.S. filed 10 charges related to trade secrets for the T-Mobile theft and 13 charges related to sanction violations against Huawei. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou from Canada, where she was arrested in December.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said that the charges levied against Huawei "expose brazen and persistent actions to exploit American companies and financial institutions and threaten the free and fair global marketplace."

As you can tell from the number and magnitude of the charges, Huawei and its senior executives repeatedly refused to respect U.S. law and standard international business practices. Huawei also intentionally and systematically sought to steal valuable intellectual property from an American company so it could circumvent hard-earned time consuming research and gain an unfair market advantage. [...]

As Americans, we should all be concerned about the potential for any company beholden to a foreign government - especially one that doesn't share our values -- to burrow into the American telecommunications market. Today's charges serve as a warning that the FBI does not - and will not -- tolerate businesses that violate our laws, obstruct our justice, and jeopardize our national security.

The charges filed today against Huawei will likely escalate U.S.-China tensions, though the Department of Justice said that the indictments are "wholly separate" from trade negotiations with China, which are set to continue this week.

The U.S. has already banned government employees and contractors from using devices from Huawei and ZTE, and legislation has been introduced that would ban the export of U.S. parts and components to Chinese telecommunications companies in violation of U.S. export control or sanction laws.

Huawei is the largest smartphone manufacturer in China and a major Apple competitor in the country. Few Huawei products are available in the U.S., however, because of the aforementioned cybersecurity concerns.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Repair parts are temporarily constrained for 42mm models of the Apple Watch Series 1 and first-generation Apple Watch, nicknamed Series 0, according to an internal document distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers today.

If a customer initiates a repair order for one of those Apple Watch models, Apple has permitted Apple Authorized Service Providers to offer a 42mm Apple Watch Series 2 as a substitute starting February through April according to the document, obtained by MacRumors from multiple proven sources.

The document does not mention Series 2, Series 3, Series 4, or 38mm models of any kind as qualifying, nor does it specify if the parts constraint is limited to aluminum, stainless steel, or other finishes. No further information is provided.

The document was distributed to Apple Authorized Service Providers in the United States and other countries, and it was likely sent to Apple Stores as well, in which case the Genius Bar would follow the same guidelines. We have elected not to share a screenshot of the document to protect our sources.

Visit the Get Support page on Apple.com to initiate an Apple Watch repair.

Google appears to be working on a facial recognition system that would offer similar security to Face ID, based on code for the next-generation version of Android that was highlighted by XDA Developers.

Code in Android Q, set to be shown off at Google's developer conference in May, points towards an advanced facial recognition system that would be secure enough to be used for authorizing purchases and signing into apps, in addition to unlocking a smartphone.

Furthermore, the code references a built-in hardware based sensor through error messages that are highlighted when the sensor is unable to properly detect a face.

Combined, these two factors suggest that Google is expecting future smartphones to feature an advanced facial recognition system that could perhaps be as secure as ‌Face ID‌.

Right now, there are Android devices that are using 2D facial recognition techniques to replace a passcode, but none of those systems are based on 3D face scans like ‌Face ID‌. Facial recognition used by Android right now is more rudimentary and easily fooled, which is why Android devices continue to use fingerprint sensors for operations that need more security like payments.

The Android Q code indicates Google is building a native secure facial recognition option into the next version of Android, which would allow smartphone manufacturers to create systems that rival ‌Face ID‌.

‌Face ID‌ was first introduced in 2017 in the iPhone X, and has since expanded to the ‌iPhone‌ XR, XS, XS Max, and the 2018 iPad Pro models. At the time ‌Face ID‌ was introduced, respected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the sophistication of the 3D camera system Apple uses would be unable to be matched by Android smartphone makers for 2.5 years.

One and a half years later, there are still no Android smartphone manufacturers that have created a front-facing camera system similar to the TrueDepth camera system able to be used for all secure system functions like payments.

Google's work on adding secure facial recognition code to Android does, however, suggest that Android devices with Face ID-like systems are in the works and coming soon.

As noted in the MacRumors Buyer's Guide and discussed in the MacRumors forums, it has now been 602 days since Apple last updated its iMac lineup, a new record for the longest span between ‌iMac‌ refreshes ever. The previous record was 601 days between October 2015 and June 2017 refreshes.

In fairness, the iMac Pro was released in December 2017, but standard 21.5-inch and 27-inch ‌iMac‌ models have not been updated in over a year and a half. Since the original ‌iMac‌ launched in 1998, the computer has typically been updated at least once per year, with the sole exceptions being 2016 and 2018.

The ‌iMac‌ is not alone. The 12-inch MacBook and Mac Pro have also set record-long spans of 602 days and 1,866 days and counting respectively since their last refreshes. Apple has at least promised to release an all-new Mac Pro with a "modular" design at some point in 2019, but has yet to share additional details.

As for the ‌iMac‌ and MacBook, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple was likely to debut refreshed models at its October 2018 event, but only the MacBook Air and Mac mini were updated. Kuo expects both the ‌iMac‌ and MacBook lines to receive faster processors, and the ‌iMac‌ to receive "significant" display improvements.

Apple has hosted a March event in three out of the past four years, so perhaps we'll see new iMacs and MacBooks at a March 2019 event. Other items on the agenda could include new iPad and iPad mini models, a new iPod touch, new AirPods, and the long-awaited AirPower mat if production rumors were true.

Apple today shared a new experimental Shot on iPhone XR video that features footage captured using 32 ‌iPhone‌ XR devices mounted on a bullet time rig.

The video depicts various materials, including fire, colored water, dry ice bubbles, and colored slime, in a rotating rig that provides a 360 degree view.

The video is accompanied by a behind the scenes look at how it was made, complete with a demonstration of the crazy camera rig that Apple constructed from 32 ‌iPhone‌ XRs on bullet time mounts.

The video, in addition to using a custom ‌iPhone‌ XR camera rig with multiple devices, also uses specific ‌iPhone‌ camera techniques like slo-mo, which can capture slow motion video at 240 frames per second.

This is the second experimental video Apple has made with the 2018 iPhones. Back in September, ahead of when the new iPhones were released, Apple shared an experimental Shot on iPhone XS video using materials like clay and ink to demo slo-mo, 4K, and time lapse.

Samsung is close to completing a deal that will see it purchasing Israeli smartphone camera company Corephotonics for $150 million, reports Israeli news site Globes (via Android Authority).

The Corephotonics name may sound familiar to those who follow iPhone news because in 2017, Corephotonics levied a lawsuit against Apple accusing the Cupertino company of infringing on several Corephotonics camera patents with the ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus and ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus.

The patents in question relate to dual-lens camera technologies such as optical zoom and mini telephoto lens assembly techniques. The ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus and the ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus both use a dual-lens camera setup with 2x optical zoom and a wide-angle lens paired with a telephoto lens.

Dual-lens camera technology was first introduced with the ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus in 2016 and it has subsequently been used in the ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus, ‌iPhone‌ X, ‌iPhone‌ XS, and ‌iPhone‌ XS Max. Corephotonics' original lawsuit covered just the 7 Plus and 8 Plus, but in 2018, the company filed a new patent infringement lawsuit that also covers the ‌iPhone‌ X.

According to Corephotonics, Apple's iPhones with dual-lens cameras use patented telephoto lens designs, optical zoom techniques, and a method for fusing images from the wide-angle and telephoto lenses to create a better quality photograph.

When the lawsuit was filed, Corephotonics said that it contacted Apple, but after "positive feedback" and "encouraging reports," the two companies were unable to reach a licensing agreement. Corephotonics accused Apple of releasing the ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus anyway, complete with infringing technology.

The legal matter between Corephotonics and Apple has yet to be resolved, so Samsung could inherit the dispute should it move forward with the Corephotonics purchase. Apple and Samsung in June 2018 reached a settlement for a design infringement lawsuit that spanned seven years.

Corephotonics developed the 5x optical zoom camera demonstrated by in an Oppo smartphone prototype in 2017, and it has detailed work [PDF] on a triple-lens camera setup that could allow for 5x optical zoom and a 25x total zoom feature that lets in 5x more light than traditional setups. Should Samsung purchase Corephotonics, these technologies could make their way to future Samsung devices.

Apple is today seeding the first beta of an upcoming iOS 12.2 update to its public beta testing group, a few days after releasing the beta to developers and a week after releasing the iOS 12.1.3 update.

Beta testers who have joined Apple's beta testing program will receive the iOS 12.2 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device. The update will become available right around 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time or 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Those who want to download the new beta can do so after signing up for the beta program, which gives access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas.

iOS 12.2 expands Apple News to Canada for the first time, with Canadian iPhone and iPad users able to access news stories in English or French. The update introduces infrastructure for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit on third-party TVs, and it brings a redesigned TV remote in Control Center.

The update also includes some tweaks to the Wallet app, new addition to Safari, changes to the Downtime feature in Screen Time, icon tweaks, and more, with a full list of the new features available in our iOS 12.2 tidbits post.

iOS 12.2 confirms that Apple is planning to release second-generation AirPods with "Hey Siri" support, thanks to a hidden "Hey ‌Siri‌" AirPods setup screen in the beta. The inclusion of the AirPods setup option in the beta indicates that Apple could perhaps be planning to release new AirPods when iOS 12.2 is released.

The update also features hints of an upcoming Apple News subscription service, which could see a Texture-like magazine service added to ‌Apple News‌.

The iOS 12.2 update will likely see several rounds of beta testing before it launches to the public.

App Store developers have earned a total of $120 billion since the ‌App Store‌ launched back in 2008, Apple announced today. More than a quarter of that total was earned in the past year alone, according to Apple.

The ‌App Store‌ has seen significant growth in revenue with each quarter and it brings in a major part of Apple's growing services revenue.

The new ‌App Store‌ metric was highlighted as part of an Apple Newsroom article covering the launch of the Entrepreneur Camp, which allows female-founded app development companies to attend a program at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino.

Entrepreneur Camp is designed to provide female app creators with "the tools needed to thrive in today's global app economy." There are 11 female app founders who are joining the inaugural program, which will last for two weeks.

Each attendee will have access to an immersive hands-on technology lab where participants will be able to work one-on-one with Apple experts and engineers to accelerate their apps.

"In the past, starting a small business often meant having to invest in overhead, inventory or retail space. Today, a world of opportunity opens up with some coding skills and an entrepreneurial spirit," said Esther Hare, Apple's senior director, Worldwide Developer Marketing and executive sponsor, Women@Apple. "The App Store is the new digital Main Street, and creative developers are tapping into the vast potential of the global app economy. We hope that this program helps to inspire women around the world to learn to code, join the iOS development community and share in the thriving app economy."

Sessions on design, technology, and ‌App Store‌ marketing are included, as are ongoing guidance and support from an Apple Developer Relations representative. Apple says attendees will learn about new Apple technologies, including optimizing for the A12 chip, integrating CoreML into apps, building experiences for ARKit, and more.

Those who attend Entrepreneur camp will be provided with two tickets to the 2019 Worldwide Developers Conference and a complementary one-year membership to the Apple Developer Program. Apple has a list of the first app companies accepted to the program in its Newsroom article.

Going forward, Apple plans to hold Entrepreneur Camp sessions on a quarterly basis, with up to 20 app companies accepted for each round. As outlined when the program was announced, app-driven businesses need to be female founded, co-founded, or led, and must have at least one woman on the product development team.

Apple today uploaded a new iPad Pro video called "A new way to go behind the scenes," which, as the title suggests, offers a behind the scenes look at some of the recent iPad Pro ads Apple has shared.

Apple's latest round of ads featured a series of tutorials and demonstrations on using the ‌iPad Pro‌ features, all of which were created using an ‌iPad Pro‌. There was some skepticism that the ‌iPad Pro‌ could be used to make the content, which appears to be why Apple has uploaded this video.

Each of the ads were filmed, edited, animated, and designed on the ‌iPad Pro‌. The Filmic Pro, app, for example, was used during the filming of the ads, though the iPad Pros were mounted using professional equipment.

Luma Fusion was used for editing purposes, Keynote was used for animation, and GarageBand was used for creating music.

The original videos were designed to offer up highlights on what can be done with an ‌iPad Pro‌, focusing on taking notes, going paperless by scanning documents, hosting a podcast, designing a space with the Measure app, and creating a presentation in Keynote.

Well timed with a report from The New York Times today that explained why Apple is unlikely to manufacture more of its products in the United States, Apple has published a press release highlighting how several components it uses are manufactured by U.S. suppliers such as Finisar, Corning, and Broadcom.

Apple says it spent $60 billion with 9,000 American component suppliers and companies in 2018, an increase of more than 10 percent from the year before. Apple says this spending supports more than 450,000 jobs in the United States.

This includes VCSELs for Face ID on the iPhone X and newer at Finisar in Texas, ‌iPhone‌ and iPad display glass at Corning in Kentucky, water-resistance testing at Cincinnati Test Systems in Ohio, and wireless chips at Broadcom, Qorvo, and Skyworks in Colorado, Oregon, and Massachusetts respectively.

Since 2011, the total number of jobs created and supported by Apple in the United States has more than tripled from almost 600,000 to two million across all 50 states, the company says. Apple profiled a few of its supplier employees in its press release, providing a closer look at their operations.

Apple has held discussions with developers about a potential gaming subscription service, according to Cheddar's Alex Heath.

The report, citing five unnamed sources, claims the service would function like "Netflix for games," providing paying subscribers with access to a bundle of games for a set price. Apple began privately discussing the service with game developers in the second half of 2018, according to the report.

It's unclear how much the subscription will cost, when it may launch, or what kind of games Apple will offer. Apple has App Stores full of games on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, Mac, and Apple TV, but many are free-to-download "freemium" titles supported by in-app purchases like coins and jewels.

The service, said to be in the early stages of development, could bring more visibility to paid titles like Alto's Odyssey and Monument Valley rather than freemium titles like Clash of Clans that dominate the App Store charts. Given how early it is, though, Apple could ultimately abandon the plans.

Apple has also discussed partnering with developers as a publisher, according to two of the sources cited, suggesting that the ‌iPhone‌ maker could handle marketing, distribution, and other related costs for select games.

Possibly of note, Apple recently expanded its iPod touch trademark to encompass gaming in the United States. While sales of the device have faded in recent years, rumors suggest Apple may be planning a seventh-generation iPod touch, which would likely be one of the cheapest points of entry for an Apple gaming service.

Apple is also expected to launch subscription-based services for TV shows and movies and magazines and newspapers this year.