Oh, and its also possible to render your iPhone useless when you slam it on a concrete table 1970 times. Probably it might stop working even earlier. Someone should make a YouTube video about this serious flaw.
And you can get a brand new one at any Apple Store for what, $129? But only if you bought AppleCare+ when your smashed phone was new.
Wonder if they give you one if you return it in powder form... Do they test the powder?
Why would anyone in a sensible approach to mentally dextrous want to kill His iphone? Anyone who does this is like those people who drop their iphone from a skyscraper to see if it would break or drop their phone in a bucket of water to see if it would sink like a yellow submarine! Totally Nuts!
Discovering stuff like this takes a lot of time and wasted effort. Don't people have better things to do? Hey, let's try to mess up the emergency health info by trying buffer overflow methods! Or maybe we can cause the Wifi to go into some broadcast loop by toggling the Wifi on/off 4000 times in a row! Oh, perhaps I can wreck my phone by holding down the airplane mode button for 19 hours straight!
I think this is one of those cases where the actual problem is nowhere near as serious as the situation that led to it.
Is anyone likely to run into this bug without trying really, really hard? No, they're not.
But my question is this: Who lets out any piece of software without testing it to the absolute limits of its data ranges? Yes, I know you can't test for every eventuality, but not trying the highest and lowest dates possible? Really? No one was even curious enough to give it a try?
A lot of people are discussing the state of Apple software at the moment; this is the kind of thing they're talking about.
I'm wondering if anyone has had success using Apple Configurator 2 in reviving these or if any have simply "fixed themselves" by having their internal clock pass the 0 time threshold? I'll assume that 99.999% of any phones with this problem now were intentionally done and not by accident.
Apple could put a self-destruct feature in that requires you to click past 12 warnings, enter your lock code and Apple ID/password and require a valid TouchID three times each and people would still complain that it wrecked their phone.
I think this is one of those cases where the actual problem is nowhere near as serious as the situation that led to it.
Is anyone likely to run into this bug without trying really, really hard? No, they're not.
There are already trolls on facebook and twitter that are posting images like this, claiming there is a secret Easter Egg that will be triggered if you set your date back to 1 Jan 1970. Some of my friends have already fallen for it and ended up with a bricked iPhone. Also some people are trying to set up public wifi hotspots with malicious NTP time servers so that any iPhone that connects and is set to automatically update the date and time will be bricked. Losers.
I;m pretty tired of the word "bricked" being used so liberally. These thinks are not bricked at all. Brick means there is no possible recovery.
According to the video, yes they are bricked. There is no hope for recovery. Even connecting to a computer and doing a DFI doesn't work. They have to be replaced by Apple.
That sounds like bricking to me.
The article below states they can be brought back by completely draining the battery or opening up the phone and disconnecting it.
This is what Factory Reset is for. Make sure your phone is continuously backed up to iCloud, in case you (or someone else) does something stupid like this.
The problem is, this really does have to be fixed. Some moron will see your phone unlocked and "prank" you. It's like the olden days when Hey Siri could be set to run actively when your phone was docked to power, so guys would come up and say "Hey Siri, from now on call me Butthead."
According to reports, Factory Reset does not work; however, apparently, inserting (or reinserting) a SIM will cause the phone to adopt the cellular carrier's date and time and therefore recover. Also, if the battery is allowed to drain completely and the handset recharged, it will recover.
Comments
like a yellow submarine! Totally Nuts!
Is anyone likely to run into this bug without trying really, really hard? No, they're not.
But my question is this: Who lets out any piece of software without testing it to the absolute limits of its data ranges? Yes, I know you can't test for every eventuality, but not trying the highest and lowest dates possible? Really? No one was even curious enough to give it a try?
A lot of people are discussing the state of Apple software at the moment; this is the kind of thing they're talking about.
Epoch fail.
Apple could put a self-destruct feature in that requires you to click past 12 warnings, enter your lock code and Apple ID/password and require a valid TouchID three times each and people would still complain that it wrecked their phone.
Actually it was an iOS 9.3 beta tester who encountered the bug while trying to troubleshoot an issue with the date not appearing on the status bar.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2016/02/64-bit-iphones-and-ipads-get-stuck-in-a-loop-when-set-to-january-1-1970/
Also, if the battery is allowed to drain completely and the handset recharged, it will recover.
Nicely done.
And then file a class action lawsuit against Apple for making their device not work.