1mo ago

A new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhones

www.theverge.com A new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhones

That means it’s harder for phone thieves, too.

"There is an apparently new iOS 18 security feature that reboots iPhones that haven’t been unlocked in a few days, frustrating police by making it harder to break into suspects’ iPhones

...

Apple added “inactivity reboot” code in iOS 18.1 that triggers iPhones to restart after they’ve been locked for four days"

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40 comments

Last week it was theorized that iOS 18 would reboot after 24 hours if it lost connection from the internet. That would be even better, since it would fuck people trying to work around FindMy.
- How do you mean trying to work around FindMy? Like phone thieves?
  
  Thieves, authorities, crazy ex, anyone.
  FindMy will allow you to remotely secure or wipe the device. But the device needs to be online to get that request to lock or wipe from iCloud.
  
  Surely the user could just take out the SIM card and that would prevent it from ever connecting to the internet?
  Sure it could connect over Wi-Fi still but the chances of it being next to a network it has connected to before are very slim.
  
  What SIM card?
  
  Yea, eSIM is starting to take over the contemporary phone market.
  
  The last 3 generations of iPhone released in the US do not have physical SIM card slots at all.
  
  Yeah, and a bunch of other manufacturers were quick to follow.
  I’m still on the fence of whether or not this is a good thing. In this scenario, it’s a pro. Cops or crooks can’t remove a SIM if there is no physical SIM.
  
  That’s my point. People try to keep stolen or confiscated phones from reaching the cloud. Many have proposed a faster auto-reboot for phones that aren’t online. Maybe reducing it from 72 hours to 12 or 24.
- Hopefully they've implemented it in a way that the phone can still get wiped before initial unlock.
  
  Yeah, it will wipe if it’s locked. It wipes as soon as it gets the request from cloud. So immediately if it’s online, or if it’s unable to reach the internet, it wipes once it connects to a cellular or wifi network.

40 comments