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Apple Quietly Introduced iPhone Reboot Code Which is Locking Out Cops (www.404media.co)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

241 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which improves the security of iPhones overall and is making it harder for police to break into the devices, according to multiple iPhone security experts.

On Thursday, 404 Media reported that law enforcement officials were freaking out that iPhones which had been stored for examination were mysteriously rebooting themselves. At the time the cause was unclear, with the officials only able to speculate why they were being locked out of the devices. Now a day later, the potential reason why is coming into view.

“Apple indeed added a feature called ‘inactivity reboot’ in iOS 18.1.,” Dr.-Ing. Jiska Classen, a research group leader at the Hasso Plattner Institute, tweeted after 404 Media published on Thursday along with screenshots that they presented as the relevant pieces of code.

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Great software features should be available to all hardware, regardless of OS.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 month ago (2 children)

For sure I'm just joking about apple's habit of taking a feature that has been around for YEARS and claiming they "innovated" it, usually after they strip it down a little no less (like in this case where it appears to be a setting users can't access, but Graphene lets you turn it on/off or adjust the time between lock and reset.)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did they claim they innovated this feature? I wasn’t paying attention.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 month ago

I assume so, it's their typical MO and thus: The Joke™.