A security researcher has discovered that hackers can access an iPhone user’s contact details, including addresses and phone numbers.
Jose Rodriguez originally reported the problem to Apple in July, when the beta version of iOS 13 was first released to the public.
He uploaded a video demonstrating the problem he found to his YouTube channel this month. The video shows Rodriguez starting a FaceTime call on the target device and then rejected it with a message response. He then used Siri’s voiceover function to get into the phones’ contact details without needing to unlock the handset.
You can see the video displaying the flaw here:
While the video shows that contact information is pretty easy to get hold of, it’s worth noting that hackers can’t trigger this remotely. In order for them to access contacts, they will need to have your device and know your number without unlocking the phone.
This is one of many bugs that have been discovered on iOS 13, which came out on September 13. Apple has acted very quickly to fix the mobile operating system bugs, bringing the date forward for the release of iOS 13.1.
iOS 13.1 was originally scheduled to be released on September 30, but will now come out on September 24.
Other problems found with the new software include the keyboard randomly disappearing, as well as apps like Photos randomly crashing.
The problems with the OS begs the question; Why was the software released if it contained so many problems?
As pointed out by John Gruber on daringfireball.net, the Apple Watch Series 5 had a scheduled release date, with the device requiring that the owner had iOS 13 on the iPhone it’s paired with.
I’m not entirely sure why the watch couldn’t be delayed until the iOS was properly working, but it meant that customers getting new watches needed to update their iPhones on the same day.
There’s also the possibility that Apple may have rushed the release of iOS 13 so that all iPhones being sent to China had the new software installed.
Whatever the reason for this rush, hopefully fixing bugs will help make the drastic changes they’ve made to the operating system even better.
The new update does have some brand new features that are extremely impressive. They’ve completely changed the layout of the Photos app, added a Street View-esque feature to Apple Maps and also introduced a Dark Mode.
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Matt Weston is a lover of electric cars, artificial intelligence and space. From Cornwall, he’s a UCLan graduate that still dreams of being a Formula One driver in the very near future. Previously work includes reporting for regional newspapers and freelance video for the International Business Times.