Robert Triggs / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Beforehand, it was reported that confiscated iPhones have been mysteriously rebooting themselves.
- Consultants at the moment are piecing collectively the explanation why these iPhones rebooted.
- The reply seems to be linked to a brand new characteristic in iOS 18.1.
Earlier this week, it was reported that police have been taken abruptly when confiscated iPhones all of a sudden started rebooting on their very own. On the time of the report, it was unknown what may very well be triggering the reboot. Nevertheless, specialists at the moment are beginning to piece collectively the answer to this thriller.
When the report from 404 Media got here out, we famous that there was a risk Apple might have quietly launched a safety characteristic within the newest iOS replace. We additionally identified that there was beforehand a bug in iOS 18 that brought on iPhones to randomly reboot all through the day. Evidently we weren’t too far off from the reply as a brand new report from the outlet says that specialists are discovering that the shock reboots from this week are, in reality, a characteristic.
In line with Dr. -Ing. Jiska Classen from the Hasso Plattner Institute, the tech big gave iOS an “inactivity reboot” characteristic. Classen later confirmed this in a social submit exhibiting screenshots of the related code.
It was beforehand believed that the rebooting could also be associated to the units being faraway from the mobile community. However, in response to Classen, that doesn’t look like the case.
Moreover, Christopher Vance from Magnet Forensics revealed in a personal group chat for legislation enforcement and forensic specialists that they discovered code that triggers an inactivity timer. “When this timer runs out, the system reboots, shifting from an AFU state to a BFU state,” Vance stated.
This can be a characteristic that may assist forestall thieves from simply accessing consumer information on locked units. However, in the meanwhile, it appears the characteristic can also be serving as a nuisance to legislation enforcement.