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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] 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

It does, labled "Auto Restart", but only when "preformance issues detected" or time specified. Apple is quite late on this feature.

Screenshot of Android Auto Restart Settings page

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

This is rebooting for a different reason. That auto reboot just kind assumes that the software on your phone sucks and it needs to reboot to stay running fast.

Graphene and now iOS auto reboot for security/privacy reasons.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The end result is the same though. First phone unlock is the one a bad actor can't get through.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It's not the same.

On an iPhone it'll reboot after X hours of no use. That means it could go months without rebooting and the day after it's in police hands it reboots.

The feature you're talking about would need to be set to reboot every day at a specific time. Now you personally have to deal with that. Also until you unlock the phone as well there could be reduced functionality making it annoying.

Very different.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Not that hard to deal with honestly. Rebooting at night which I'm sleeping does not reduces any functionality, cuz I'm not using it. If someone needs to find me during the night he better call me cuz I won't wake up by notification which is also suppressed by DND. Yeah it is not design for security but a solution better than none.

Furthermore, rebooting the device periodically is good for security, especially for non-persistent fileless malware.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

on GrapheneOS it is labeled auto reboot and it specifically says "automatically reboot device if it hasn't been unlocked in xxx hours" with a default of 18.

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

This is clearly the Samsung interface and thus not stock Android. Doesn't even really look like the same feature.

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

Does that stop alarms from going off in the morning?

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

depends on your phone. at first encryption was done in an all-or-nothing style, so system startup couldn't complete without a first unlock. then android started using file based encryption, which was used selectively, encrypting certain things so that they are accessible without an unlock.

the best way to figure it out is to set a new alarm 10 minutes from now, reboot your phone manually, and see whether the alarm goes off

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

I'm on S21FE and it does NOT.