Instagram claims bug triggered iOS 14 camera notifications when not in use

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Instagram has become the latest app to be affected by the additional notifications offered in iOS 14, with an errant activation of the camera and microphone indicator while not actively using the features explained away by the company as a bug.

Instagram on an iPhone XR


Apple's privacy-related changes in iOS 14 have caused trouble for many apps already, but a new one to suddenly face scrutiny is Instagram. The Facebook-owned image service was caught by users of the beta to be seemingly activating the camera and microphone indicators during times when the user was generally browsing the app's feed, and not actively requiring the use of the camera or microphone.

The green indicator dot and the additional app-identifying element in the Control Panel was caused by a bug that is being fixed, Instagram told The Verge. The indicator could be triggered by a few elements, such as Instagram's Create Mode or accessing the Camera from the main feed.

"We only access your camera when you tell us to - for example, when you swipe from Feed to Camera," said Instagram. "We found and are fixing a bug in iOS 14 Beta that mistakenly indicates that some people are using the camera when they aren't. We do not access your camera in those instances, and no content is recorded."

The increased privacy protections of iOS 14 have generated news largely based on "Clipboard Snooping," the practice of an app accessing the device's clipboard in cases when a user wouldn't usually expect such access to take place. Apps including TikTok and Reddit were caught snooping via the new notifications, and have asserted fixes and changes would be made in the near future.

In the case of LinkedIn, its clipboard snooping was allegedly tied to a bug in its software, according to an engineer on July 3. By July 11, a lawsuit was filed against LinkedIn for allegedly reading clipboard data, one which is also seeking class-action status.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    “Uh-oh! We have been caught invading users privacy again! What do we do?! What do we do?!”

    ”No worries. We’ll issue a statement claiming it’s a bug and then try to find a workaround for this notification.”

    ”Damn you, iOS 14!!”
    bonobobbadmonkwilliamlondonrazorpitCluntBaby92watto_cobra
     6Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 2 of 9
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    I’m surprised they didn’t blame Apple. IOS 14 is lifting the rock and all the cockroaches and pill bugs are heading for a dark corner to avoid the light. Imagine what goes on on Android devices.
    edited July 2020
    chasmGG1chiamrmacgeekbadmonkwilliamlondonrazorpitmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
     9Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 9
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,767member
    Well I certainly trust Instagram/FB to be levelling with us on this one ... BWAHAHAHAHA sorry I couldn't keep that up.
    h4y3sGG1Rayz2016badmonkwilliamlondonrazorpitCluntBaby92FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
     9Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 9
    wonkothesanewonkothesane Posts: 1,751member
    What a flood of coincidently found bugs just when exposure to what apps are actually doing without telling is ramping up. 

    N the end it is not even about whether it’s a bug or not. It’s simply making it very transparent to what extent you should trust apps where you are the product. 
    badmonkrazorpitmuthuk_vanalingamCluntBaby92FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra
     6Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 9
    lkrupp said:
    I’m surprised they didn’t blame Apple. IOS 14 is lifting the rock and all the cockroaches and pill bugs are heading for a dark corner to avoid the light. Imagine what goes on on Android devices.
    They did (sorta) blame Apple.  They say they are fixing a bug _in iOS 14_ not in Instagram. Classic deflection (and no accountability)  never mention your own properties’ names.

    It’s a little ironic - by installing Instagram you are literally bugging the OS/device. 
    edited July 2020
    badmonkrazorpitwatto_cobra
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 9
    Hah...yeah, ok, FaceCrook. Not like we haven’t already heard the “it was a bug” excuse already this month (sorry MIcrosoft, your clipboard snooping ‘bug’ has not yet been forgotten).
    badmonkrazorpitwatto_cobra
     3Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 9
    dutchlorddutchlord Posts: 326member
    “Uh-oh! We have been caught invading users privacy again! What do we do?! What do we do?!”

    ”No worries. We’ll issue a statement claiming it’s a bug and then try to find a workaround for this notification.”

    ”Damn you, iOS 14!!”
    Exactly. Deleted TikTok and Instagram app from
    all devices.
    badmonkwatto_cobra
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 9
    Rayz2016rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    lkrupp said:
    I’m surprised they didn’t blame Apple. IOS 14 is lifting the rock and all the cockroaches and pill bugs are heading for a dark corner to avoid the light. Imagine what goes on on Android devices.
    They did (sorta) blame Apple.  They say they are fixing a bug _in iOS 14_ not in Instagram. Classic deflection (and no accountability)  never mention your own properties’ names.

    It’s a little ironic - by installing Instagram you are literally bugging the OS/device. 
    Their statement makes no sense. How can they fix a bug in iOS? Apple fixes bugs in iOS. 

    And no one believes this is a bug. My guess is that Facebook is surreptitiously taking pictures of your surroundings to get an overview of the things around you which they use to enhance your advertisement/opinion-manipulation profile. 



    edited July 2020
    badmonkwilliamlondonrazorpitwatto_cobra
     4Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 9
    Rayz2016 said:
    lkrupp said:
    I’m surprised they didn’t blame Apple. IOS 14 is lifting the rock and all the cockroaches and pill bugs are heading for a dark corner to avoid the light. Imagine what goes on on Android devices.
    They did (sorta) blame Apple.  They say they are fixing a bug _in iOS 14_ not in Instagram. Classic deflection (and no accountability)  never mention your own properties’ names.

    It’s a little ironic - by installing Instagram you are literally bugging the OS/device. 
    Their statement makes no sense. How can they fix a bug in iOS? Apple fixes bugs in iOS. 

    And no one believes this is a bug. My guess is that Facebook is surreptitiously taking pictures of your surroundings to get an overview of the things around you which they use to enhance your advertisement/opinion-manipulation profile. 

    It's just clumsy wording by the spokesperson. I'm sure the meaning was "When running the app in iOS 14 Beta, we found a bug that we're now fixing."

    And it's not unlikely that it was a bug - if your code is triggering any sensor by accident and you never actually grab the input from that sensor, your automated testing will never show a problem. It MIGHT have been caught by stringent user testing, but that's expensive and most devs these days seem to regard it as unnecessary and old-fashioned. There was an Excel bug about a decade ago where the displayed value for a cell was incorrect for a certain calculation, and it wasn't discovered until after the app shipped because the internal representation was fine. Sometimes you just don't discover the problem until a million monkeys have been hammering at it for a while.

    All that said, for a company the size of FaceBook (and with the history of FaceBook), it's a very embarrassing situation and I am not surprised that the default public reaction is... *ahem* skepticism.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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