Teen Who Discovered FaceTime Bug To Receive Payment From Apple

Apple has announced that it will pay the teenager who discovered the FaceTime Group bug.

Grant Thompson, a 14-year-old from Tuscon, Arizona, will receive an undisclosed amount for finding the bug last month after he attempted to use the app to connect with friends while they were setting up a chat to play with the video game “Fortnite.”

The teen’s mother, Michele Thompson, attempted to contact Apple a number of times about the bug, which renders users able to hear audio from video calls before picking up. Despite her numerous efforts to reach out to the tech giant through email and social media messages, a response was sent to her only one week ago.

In one post on Twitter, Mrs. Thompson wrote about how unsettling she found the security glitch, calling it “scary stuff.”

After taking the FaceTime Group chat feature offline over a week ago, Apple issued a repair for the bug in an iOS 12.1.4 security update on Thursday. In the software update, Apple engineers cited the Arizona high schooler and Daven Morris from Arlington, Texas, and credited for alerting Apple about the app’s kink.

In an official statement, Apple also assured users that they reviewed the app’s security features.

“In addition to addressing the bug that was reported, our team conducted a thorough security audit of the FaceTime service and made additional updates to both the FaceTime app and server to improve security,” the statement read.

For their undertaking, Apple has agreed to award the family an undisclosed amount, including a separate gift for the teenager to contribute to his education.

While details about the sum have not been released, Engadget noted that Apple’s bug bounty program lists a reward of up to $200,000 to outside researchers, including hackers, who find and report on discrepancies in their app software and other products.