Apple has disabled its Walkie Talkie Watch app after discovering a vulnerability that could have allowed a person to listen to other users' iPhones sans their consent. The app has been available on the device for quite some time now.
The app on Apple Watch essentially allows two users who have accepted an invite from one another to receive audio chats via a "push to talk" interface.
"We were just made aware of a vulnerability related to the Walkie Talkie app on the Apple Watch and have disabled the function as we quickly fix the issue. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and will restore the functionality as soon as possible," the iPhone maker was quoted as saying by the TechCrunch on Thursday.
The Walkie Talkie app was added to Apple Watch with the release of watchOS 5.
The app will remain installed on devices, but will not function until it gets fixed.
The iPhone maker similarly disabled Group FaceTime for a short period of time while it was fixing a vulnerability.
Apple had released an iPhone update in February to fix software flaw that allowed people to eavesdrop on others while using FaceTime.
The bug enabled interlopers to turn an iPhone into a live microphone while using Group FaceTime. Callers were able to activate another person's microphone remotely even before the person has accepted or rejected the call.
Apple turned off the group-chat feature last week, after a 14-year-old boy in Tucson, Arizona, discovered the flaw. The teenager, Grant Thompson, and his mother said they unsuccessfully tried to contact the company about the problem for more than a week.
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