New York officials to investigate Apple FaceTime privacy bug

New York state officials are looking into an iPhone glitch that allowed users to eavesdrop before the recipient of their FaceTime call had picked up their phone.

In a statement on Wednesday, Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Andrew Cuomo announced there would be an investigation into Apple’s “slow response” to fix the bug and failure to warn consumers.

“New Yorkers deserve to know that their phones are safe and cannot be used against them,” Cuomo said in the statement.

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“In the wake of this egregious bug that put the privacy of New Yorkers at risk, I am calling on the attorney general to investigate this serious consumer rights issue.”

WATCH: How a 14-year-old teenager discovered Apple’s FaceTime bug

1:20 How a 14-year-old teenager discovered Apple’s FaceTime bug

The bug allows an iPhone user placing a call using Apple’s FaceTime video-calling feature to hear audio from the recipient’s phone even if the recipient has not yet picked up the call.

The bug appears to rely on Apple’s group video-calling feature.

In certain situations, the bug also broadcast both video and audio from the recipient’s phone, the technology news website the Verge noted.

Apple said on Monday it will issue a software patch later this week.

— With files from Reuters