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Someone Can Hack Into Your FaceTime If You Don't Do The New iOS Update ASAP

by Eitan Levine
REX/Shutterstock

You should probably go ahead and download the newest iPhone update.

While Apple's updates tend to be annoying, often unnecessary and occasionally phone-destroying, for the most part they're pretty important in making sure your phone doesn't turn into a portal for faceless hackers to destroy your life.

Like the latest update for iOS 10.1 for instance. An update that will flat out terrify you when you realize just what your phone was open to without the patch.

According to findings by Tencent's Keen Lab researcher Marco Grassi, the update fixes a hole left in iOS 10.1 that allowed hackers to carry out arbitrary code when users would open a “maliciously crafted” JPEG file.

(I have no idea if I wrote this sentence correctly. Do you do arbitrary code? Do you make arbitrary code? Do you edit arbitrary code? Someone smarter than me, please advise.)

For all you laymen out there who have no idea what this means -- AKA me five minutes before writing this article -- running arbitrary code gives hackers the ability to take over someone's mobile device without them knowing.

This gives them full access to carry out commands and run programs without the owner's consent. Can you imagine someone getting access to your FaceTime?

You wouldn't even need to download the corrupted file in question in order for the hack to take place.

All you'd need to do was to view the picture once and then -- boom -- your phone is being controlled by some kid in a basement making $14,000 a year at GameStop.

In addition to the security patch, the update also includes a new portrait mode for the iPhone 7 Plus that makes images in front of blurred backgrounds appear sharper.

If you want to download the update all you need to do is go to Settings > iCloud > Backup > Backup Now to backup your phone.

Then, after you backed dat thang up you go to Settings > General > Software Update and begin to install.

If you don't want to update your iPhone or iPad, just don't download the update.

Keep rolling the devil's dice and hoping to God some hacker doesn't turn you into an AMEX identity fraud commercial.

Citations: Apples iOS 101 Update Fixes Major Security Issues (Teen Vogue)