With the beta of iOS 14 becoming widely available, many users have begun to see that many applications have access to their clipboard without even knowing it. But an even more important discovery was the use of the camera by the Instagram app, which continued to have the camera active even when users were just watching their feed.
The new iOS 14 security system alerts users to any use of user data by applications, with most companies already revoking these features. Instagram, however, claims that it does not use users’ cameras, except when they really want to use it. According to Instagram, the aforementioned operating system alerts are just a bug.
Speaking to TheVerge, an Instagram spokesman said:
We only have access to your camera when you tell us – for example when you drag from the stream to the camera. We have detected and fixed an error in iOS 14 Beta, which incorrectly indicates that the application is using the camera even when this is not the case. We do not have access to your camera under any circumstances and no content is recorded.
Even though iOS 14 is still in beta mode and its privacy features aren’t yet available to the general public, it’s already raised plenty of red flags about apps snooping on your data. Though TikTok, LinkedIn, and Reddit may have been the most high-profile examples, researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk found more than 50 iOS apps quietly accessing users’ clipboards as well. And while there are certainly more malicious breaches of privacy, these kinds of discoveries are a worrying reminder about how much we risk every time we go online.
