New iPhone 6s bug lets hackers access photos and contacts

A new iPhone 6s bug has been found that lets anyone access your photos and contacts. Here's how to stop it.

A new iPhone bug has been reported that puts users personal files at risk. Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire

Multiple users of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are reporting a new Siri bug that has the potential to let anyone access pictures and stored contacts on the phone even when it is locked.

What is the bug?

The bug is similar to other flaws in the iOS that have been exploited in the past.

The hacker asks Siri to find tweets including an email address. Once a suitable tweet is found, the iPhone’s 3D Touch can be used to add that address to a contact - a process that opens up the entire address book.

When selecting a contact to add the email address to, the user can choose any of the stored contacts on the iPhone, revealing their phone numbers, email or addresses. And by selecting an option to edit a contact’s profile photo, they can access the entire photo library.






Specialist Apple news site, 9to5Mac, stress that on the whole there is no reason to be overly worried as the odds of getting hacked are very slim.

Am I at risk?




The bypass only works on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, because those devices feature 3D Touch, which is used for this particular variant of the passcode bypass trick.

So if you don’t have either of these models you have nothing to worry about.

You can check if your phone is susceptible to the passcode bypass by following the steps in the video above.





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How can I protect my phone?



Turn off Siri’s access to your phone when it is locked.

Apple eggheads will likely be working on solution to this bug, but for now the only way to prevent it is to disable Siri functions. 
Go to Settings, then Privacy, then select Photos and deselect Siri.