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

submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

264 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] 58 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It does not. I don't have it on my Pixel 6. From other people's comments, it sounds like Samsung and other OEMs have added their version, though.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, can confirm Samsung has this. I have auto reboot configured.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Where would I find that setting? I have an S22 Ultra and I can't seem to find it. Unless my phone has fallen out of support...

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's under device care -> auto optimization in settings. You can also just search "restart" in settings and it should pop up.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 days ago

Found it, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Thanks, didn't know of this function. In my A50s it's under Battery and Device Care

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

that makes me think that it's a different feature, and it reboots the phone every x hours regardless if it was unlocked

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It has conditions

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

so this is a restart-on-schedule feature that can skip a restart on certain conditions

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago

I've added this function manually using Automate (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate).

You can trigger it to reboot on inactivity using some advanced parameters, but I've simply set it up to reboot at 3.30 AM every day, that way it's also clearing the cache.

This is how it looks like - the 5 min wait timer is to prevent a reboot loop if the phone is still booted up at 3.30 again.