Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Apple AirPods may be used to spy on conversations, but please don’t

Aaron Mamiit
By

Apple’s AirPods are being misused to spy on conversations through a feature that was not meant to enable eavesdropping through the wireless earbuds.

The iOS 12 update, which Apple released last September, added the Live Listen feature to the AirPods. Previously reserved for hearing aids certified under the Made for iPhone hearing aid program, Live Listen allows the iPhone to be used as a directional microphone and the AirPods as hearing aids, in situations such as in a noisy restaurant.

Recommended Videos

To activate the feature, users will need to go to the Control Center menu under Settings, tap Customize Controls, and then tap the plus sign next to the Hearing icon to add it to the Control Center.

Related

Apple added Live Listen to the AirPods to help users with minor hearing issues. However, some people are talking about abusing the feature to listen in on others.

If u have AirPods ????, u can press “Live Listen” to “On” and leave your phone in the room with someone and u can hear what they saying, thank me later???? pic.twitter.com/fC6KYmqpB4

— arnold (@arnoldcrndo) January 9, 2019

The viral tweet on how to use Apple’s AirPods as an eavesdropping device by a user who goes by the handle @arnoldcrndo has been retweeted over 50,000 times and has received over 152,000 likes. The process is fairly simple — users just have to activate the Live Listen feature, leave their iPhone near the people they want to spy on, and listen to the conversation from another place through their AirPods.

The Twitter user then adds that the Live Listen feature may be used as walkie talkies, and also to cheat in schools as another person communicates the answers to the AirPods-wearer taking a test.

The Live Listen feature of the AirPods being used for anything other than its intended purpose is likely something that Apple does not want to happen, moreso for spying when the company has been very vocal about protecting user privacy.

Users on Twitter and Reddit have expressed concern over the AirPods being used to eavesdrop on others, but raised the issue of the awkwardness of having to leave your iPhone with other people, which may be a sign that something is up.

It is unclear if Apple is already aware of the situation, and if it will do something about it. Perhaps have the iPhone play a sound regularly to alert people that the Live Listen feature is activated?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Aaron Mamiit
Aaron Mamiit
Contributor
Aaron received a NES and a copy of Super Mario Bros. for Christmas when he was 4 years old, and he has been fascinated with…
The U.S. government is now using AirTag trackers to spy on packages
Person holding an Apple AirTag.

Apple raised some eyebrows late last year when the company revealed that it actively works with law enforcement officials in cases involving the misuse of its object tracker. The admission came after a litany of cases where AirTag trackers were exploited for stalking and theft. Apple even got slapped with a lawsuit for the whole drama. But it appears that other government agencies have also grown a taste for deploying AirTag trackers to assist with their investigations.

According to Forbes, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) recently used an AirTag for surveillance in a case that potentially had an illicit narcotics manufacturing angle. Citing an official search warrant, the report notes that border agents intercepted a package coming in from China that contained a pill press machine used to turn chemical powders into a pill.

Read more
I don’t understand why Apple hates the 10th Gen iPad so much
Apple iPad Gen 10 with the official keyboard accessory.

I love using the iPad as my primary computer. No self-respecting digital nomad should be allowed to say those words. At least not in 2022, when iPadOS is still miles behind macOS, primarily because of Apple’s walled-garden approach to the iPad app ecosystem.

But after spending well over $800 on the whole kit with the new Magic Keyboard Folio and Apple Pencil, maybe I’ve downed the bitter potion of its cons and learned to love it. Or, to put it more accurately, be at peace with its limitations. Whatever way you put it, this sleek tablet is impressive, and infuriating, to the same measure.
Performance champ, middling execution

Read more
Forget AirPods — here’s why I use Samsung earbuds with my iPhone
Galaxy Buds 2 Pro with iPhone 13 Pro Max on a table

AirPods Pro 2 are the go-to flagship earbuds for an iPhone user; you get all the ecosystem benefits alongside brilliant sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC). But what if you use your iPhone with a Windows laptop, or what if you have an Android phone as a secondary device? That’s where you’ll require a second pair of earbuds — unless you can find something that works well with the iPhone as well as Windows and Android. Surprisingly, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro are one such product.

I’ve been using the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro with my iPhone 13 Pro Max and Galaxy Z Fold 4. While there are obvious reasons for someone in the Galaxy ecosystem to purchase the flagship Samsung earbuds, they work shockingly well with an iPhone — even if there are a couple of caveats.
Open, pair, and play

Read more