Owners of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus running iOS 9.3.1 be weary that there is a video making it around the internet that looks like it’s possible to access your photos and contracts without the code to enter your phone using Siri and a few simple steps.
The video shows how easy it is to see your photos if running iOS 9.3.1
Credit goes to The Daily Dot, as I’ve not seen any earlier reporting on the video that was posted on YouTube by Jose Rodriguez yesterday. In the video, “someone” simply walked up to a locked iPhone and accessed Siri by either holding down the home button or the easier, “Hey, Siri” command to bring up the virtual personal assistant. From there you simply ask “her” to begin a Twitter search for someone which returned contact details including an email address. From there, simply use a 3D Touch gesture on that contact information in order to see yourself given a Quick Actions menu.
After that menu is available, select “Add to Existing Contact” which will, of course, bring up the “locked” iPhone’s contact list, select that contact and choose to add a photo to the content and you’ll have complete access to the iPhone’s photo library.
The quick fix
Now, this won’t work every time and it’s reasonably innocuous at the end of the day, but bugs can be frustrating and often lead to thoughts like, “What else can someone see on my phone.” It won’t work if Siri has access to Twitter, which is given by the user. Siri also must have access to both Photos and Contacts. And if Touch ID’s limited “life” has passed, this will also not work.
I doubt many reading this will find this troubling but if you are, simply turn off Siri’s ability to access Twitter or Photos. Simply go to Settings -> Privacy -> Twitter and untick Siri’s access. The same works with Privacy -> Photos.
Or just Shut off Siri.
Clearly, if this video “speaks” the truth, Apple rushed iOS 9.3.1 to fix a web link crashing problem that did, indeed, a quick fix for many.
