Apple Inc. has been accused of accidentally creating a spying device after news circulated on Monday that the iPhone’s FaceTime app has been letting users hear audio of others even if those people didn’t pick up the call.

The iPhone maker responded to the issue, something it seems has caused quite the fuss on social media this week, saying it has identified the problem and it should be fixed later this week. This only affects people that have FaceTime on their phones.

The way it works is that a person has to make a call with FaceTime video from the iPhone app. After that, the person can add herself to the call and the app then assumes a conference call is taking place. Even though the person being called hasn’t picked up, the audio of that person will still be heard.

It gets even worse. It seems that if the person hits the volume button while a call is being made, or hits the power button to silence the call, the camera will turn itself on. While the person being called will just see an incoming call screen, the person calling will now have audio and video streaming of the recipient.

The bug couldn’t have come at a worse time, given that the news broke on Data Privacy Day and the fact Tim Cook has been outspoken lately regarding “action and reform for vital privacy protections.” Apple has been flying the banner of late, such as ahead of the CES consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, that “What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone.” This isn’t quite selling user data to third-party brokers, but the FaceTime glitch still doesn’t look good.

FaceTime added the feature of conference calls in October last year. It was part of the software update iOS 12.1. The bug isn’t fixed yet, but users can go to iPhone settings and disable the app.

Image: Toshiyuki IMAI/Flickr