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    Reverse Engineering iOS 18 Inactivity Reboot

    (naehrdine.blogspot.com)
    511 points moonsword | 11 comments | 17 Nov 24 21:50 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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    thrdbndndn ◴[18 Nov 24 01:27 UTC] No.42168908[source]▶
    Two questions:

    1. surely unconditionally rebooting locked iPhones every 3 days would cause issues in certain legit use cases?

    2. If I read the article correctly, it reboots to re-enter "Before First Unlock" state for security. Why can't it just go into this state without rebooting?

    Bonus question: my Android phone would ask for my passcode (can't unlock with fingerprint or face) if it thinks it might be left unattended (a few hours without moving etc.), just like after rebooting. Is it different from "Before First Unlock" state? (I understand Android's "Before First Unlock" state could be fundamentally different from iPhone's to begin with).

    replies(7): >>42168981 #>>42169169 #>>42169203 #>>42169266 #>>42169304 #>>42170569 #>>42171458 #
    1. Kwpolska ◴[18 Nov 24 07:49 UTC] No.42170569[source]▶
    What legit use case involves not touching your phone at all for 3 days?
    replies(5): >>42170902 #>>42170909 #>>42171167 #>>42173387 #>>42175323 #
    2. Hackbraten ◴[18 Nov 24 09:12 UTC] No.42170902[source]▶
    Maybe you want people to be able to reach you on a secondary, inbound-only phone number.

    I’ve also heard people re-purpose old phones (with their batteries disconnected, hopefully) as tiny home servers or informational displays.

    replies(1): >>42195950 #
    3. adastra22 ◴[18 Nov 24 09:14 UTC] No.42170909[source]▶
    Not a phone, but at my old apartment I used to have an iPad mounted on the wall. It was a dynamic weather display, Ring doorbell answerer, multimedia control, etc. Would suck if every 3 days I had to enter my passcode again.
    replies(3): >>42170942 #>>42172496 #>>42172862 #
    4. Shank ◴[18 Nov 24 09:20 UTC] No.42170942[source]▶
    I haven’t tested this, but I assume this wouldn’t occur if the device is fully unlocked and powered on. Most kiosk adjacent deployments are setup so that they never turn the screen off and remain unlocked.
    5. ◴[18 Nov 24 10:14 UTC] No.42171167[source]▶
    6. grishka ◴[18 Nov 24 14:20 UTC] No.42172496[source]▶
    Looks like something that doesn't need to have a passcode on it in the first place.
    replies(1): >>42175351 #
    7. myflash13 ◴[18 Nov 24 14:58 UTC] No.42172862[source]▶
    iPad has a kiosk mode for these use cases.
    8. YoumuChan ◴[18 Nov 24 15:40 UTC] No.42173387[source]▶
    I connect an iPhone 12 to my vehicle's CarPlay all the time. Recently I often found the start unreliable, which defeats all the purpose.
    9. layer8 ◴[18 Nov 24 18:24 UTC] No.42175323[source]▶
    It means that in the future you can’t use old iPhone hardware to run an unattended server or similar anymore (unless you simulate user activity by adding some hardware that taps on the display every three minutes, or something). This is why I don’t like that it’s a hardcoded non-configurable setting. It cripples potential use cases for the hardware.
    10. layer8 ◴[18 Nov 24 18:27 UTC] No.42175351{3}[source]▶
    I have something like this as well, connected to my Apple account for calendar and reminder access etc. I wouldn’t want every random guest to have access to that.
    11. neop1x ◴[20 Nov 24 17:03 UTC] No.42195950[source]▶
    The article says the phone reception works even BFU (just without contact info)