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This week’s top stories: FaceTime eavesdropping, Facebook vs Apple, iOS 13 details, more

In this week’s top stories: FaceTime eavesdropping bug, iOS 13 rumors, Facebook and Apple clash, and more. Read on for all of this week’s top stories.

On Monday, we reported on a major FaceTime bug that let you hear the audio of the person you were calling before they picked up by adding yourself to a Group FaceTime. After the flaw was exposed, Apple took Group FaceTime offline, closing the loophole.

Apple originally said it would release an iOS update to address the situation this week, but in a statement on Friday, the company said the update will not be available until next week. Apple also issued an apology and thanked the family that first reported the bug last week.

Facebook this week was found to be circumventing the App Store to distribute a ‘Facebook Research’ application. The VPN gave Facebook nearly limitless access to user devices. Facebook specifically targeted teenagers and offered to pay them $20 per month to use the app. Google was quickly found to be doing something similar.

To distribute the app, Facebook and Google used Apple’s enterprise certificate program, which is meant to be used only for internal applications and beta testing. Apple pulled both companies’ access to the program but eventually restored it.

Elsewhere, Bloomberg was out with a report this week offering details on Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iOS plans for 2019. The report said that iOS 13 will include Dark Mode, a new iPad homescreen, and more. It also corroborated reports of a three camera iPhone, as well as a 10-inch iPad and new iPad mini. Read our full coverage here. 

Last but not least, Apple released its Q1 2019 earnings this week. The company reported $84.3 billion in revenue and $19.97 billion in profit during the holiday quarter. This quarter marked Apple’s first quarterly release in which it did not provide unit sales data for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

These and the rest of this week’s top Apple stories below…

FaceTime eavesdropping |

iOS | macOS | tvOS | watchOS |

iPhone |

Mac + iPad |

Top Apple stories, retail |

Tech Industry |

Apple Watch |

AirPods |

Top Apple stories, company |

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This week’s top videos |

Happy Hour Podcast #210 |

This week Benjamin and Zac discuss their hands-on experience with Apple’s new Smart Battery Cases for iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, new places where Apple Pay is accepted, Apple’s first-ever ‘Shot on iPhone’ contest, the latest iPhone 11 and beyond rumors, and much more..

9to5Mac Happy Hour is available on iTunes and Apple’s Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneInGoogle Play Music, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

Making The Grade |

Making The Grade is a weekly series from Bradley Chambers covering Apple in education. Bradley has been managing Apple devices in an education environment since 2009. Through his experience deploying and managing 100s of Macs and 100s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple’s products work at scale, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for students.

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Featured in top image: Dell 38-inch UltraSharp Curved Monitors, Grovemade’s Desk Shelf System, Nixie Tube Clock, Apogee Quartet, KRK VXT6 Studio Monitor speakers, Classicbot Classic Vintage Mac Toy. Read about the setup over on 9to5Toys as part of the ‘Behind the Screens’ series. 

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com