On Thursday 404 Media reported that police were freaking out about mysteriously rebooting iPhones. Now multiple experts have found that Apple introduced code that reboots locked phones after a period of time.

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.

  • rockSlayer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    5 days ago

    That seals the deal for me on rooting my pixel. I’ve been hesitant about rooting ever since I bricked an extra galaxy s3 and nearly bricked my (main device) Verizon galaxy s5

    • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
      15·
      5 days ago

      If you have a factory pixel, you don’t need to root. You can unlock bootloader and install a rom that has it (calyxos or grapheneos I know have them). You can root, but you don’t have to.

    • dumbass@leminal.spaceEnglish
      13·
      5 days ago

      Putting graphineos onto my pixel was the easiest thing I’ve done in a long time, the installer is just pressing buttons and waiting for the next button to be ready pretty much.

      • trolololol@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        4 days ago

        Same question as catloaf but with less ambiguous things like banks: does Netflix, safety net, fox sports Australia and Google pay work with graphene os?

        • dumbass@leminal.spaceEnglish
          2·
          2 days ago

          Google wallet doesn’t work at all, but if your bank offers its own NFC payment system then that should work.

          The only app that I’ve had an issue with was uber, that refused to install from either play store or aurora store, but beyond that I haven’t had any issues. Just search graphineos and the app you want to check, or check out their forum.

        • higgsboson@dubvee.orgEnglish
          2·
          4 days ago

          My bank apps all work (though YMMV.) Ticket app worked (AXS.) I haven’t actually used google pay or google wallet for anything to know if they work.

          Authy is the only miss I’ve found and it wouldn’t have mattered if i hadnt been caught in the midst of migrating to another app for that when they decided to be assholes.

      • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
        61·
        5 days ago

        How does it work for stuff like bank apps? Do they freak out about it?

        And does it require unlocking the bootloader? I prefer to keep mine locked if possible.

        • dumbass@leminal.spaceEnglish
          6·
          5 days ago

          My bank app works fine and I can use the NFC chip for payments as well, it might pay to search up your bank name and graphineos to see if anyone’s had an issue, that’s what I did to make sure.

          You have to unlock it to install but once installed they prefer you lock the bootloader back up again.

    • iturnedintoanewt@lemm.eeEnglish
      10·
      5 days ago

      GrapheneOS is the easiest ROM install bar none. Get the en browser (needs to be chrome-based) to the install url, hook the phone cable, and let it run. It’s super straightforward. It’s not rooting though, you don’t get root access by default.

      • rockSlayer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        5 days ago

        Wow things sure changed about Android roms! I still remember how difficult it was to try to simply install a rom through Knox

        • WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          9·
          5 days ago

          samsung devices are still a different beast, they have their unique little everything and the standard tools don’t work there