A TikTok video shared on X by @WallStreetApes showed creator @taylerg_2 describing what she said was an unauthorized takeover of her iPhone's camera and microphone while she was watching YouTube.
"Trigger warning, PSA. I wanna make this video cause this happened to me, and I've seen two other TikToks of two girls this happened to," she said in the clip.
She recalled that the incident occurred as she was falling asleep while watching a YouTube video. "I was laying there watching my YouTube video, and I had actually dozed off, and I twitched and woke myself up," she said, adding that her phone was resting beside her head at the time.
@taylerg_2 The most terrifying thing happened—ladies get a camera cover, make sure your important info is protected, be safe??
♬ original sound - taylerg_2
The video continued playing when she noticed some unusual activity. "All of a sudden, the video is still playing, and I can hear, it's like, someone took over my. Like, I suddenly heard a microphone, like someone hacked into my phone," she said.
She described hearing what sounded like keystrokes alongside breathing. "I hear, like, typing, like, clicking and poking. Like, someone's, like, typing. And I hear breathing, and I hear a man," she said.
Her phone's camera indicator light was also lit up at the time. "The green light that shows that your camera's being used is on. I was on YouTube, mind you, the video is still playing. It's not an advertisement," she said. She added that the man spoke briefly in a language she couldn't recognize.
She also recalled a separate TikTok she had watched describing a similar experience. "She was watching YouTube, except she could see the man. Like, the man, like, was on her screen, and she could see him," she said. describing a similar incident involving another woman using YouTube.
"So, PSA, that is true and that is happening. Get camera covers," she said, recommending that viewers remain cautious at night. "People were saying, like, it's very hard, it's very rare, it's very hard to happen… because of iOS and, like, iPhone security. But I'm telling you, it did happen to me," she said.
In the caption accompanying the video, @WallStreetApes offered an explanation of how phone camera or microphone access could theoretically be compromised.
Gaining that level of control would typically require a victim to have installed a malicious app, clicked a phishing link, or had spyware physically installed on the device at some point.
Reactions to the video included practical suggestions for limiting app permissions. One commenter wrote, "Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera > YouTube > Turn OFF. And all other apps on there that are ENABLED have access to your camera while the app is running (running in the background counts)."
Another commenter described a similar experience of their own. "Omg! This happened to me on my old phone when I was using YouTube multiple times!" they wrote.
Multiple Americans are saying that someone has gained access to their iPhones
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) July 9, 2026
While in the YouTube app, she suddenly hears on her phone typing, breathing, her ‘camera on’ indicator is lit up, she says the man was a foreign man speaking and typing
Multiple other people have said… pic.twitter.com/GTBl9jt6Aq
The X user explained that malware could then request camera and microphone permissions while disguising itself as a legitimate background process. The account also wrote that Apple's iPhone security and app sandboxing make this type of hijacking very difficult.
One commenter expressed skepticism toward Apple's security claims, writing, "Apple is nowhere near as secure as they make it seem. I had to clean up my buddy's wife's Apple phone some time ago."
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events described in this video. The details above reflect the account as shared on TikTok by @taylerg_2 and reposted on X by @WallStreetApes. The identities of the other individuals referenced in the video have not been confirmed.
