this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2026
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A company that makes phone hacking devices claims to have developed a solution that freezes iPhones in a state that lets cops more easily access sensitive data inside them, according to a video obtained by 404 Media.

This is the latest salvo in the never-ending battle between Apple and companies that help cops — sometimes those in authoritarian countries — break into iPhones.

In November 2024, 404 Media revealed Apple quietly introduced a new feature in iOS that automatically reboots an iPhone that has not been unlocked for 72 hours. The idea behind this so-called “inactivity reboot” is to revert the phone to a state that makes it harder for police to break into the device, and thus extract sensitive data from it with forensics technology.

At the time of Apple’s change, law enforcement agents expressed concern about this new feature, given that oftentimes they can’t immediately try to break into iPhones that have been seized. That could be because police are still waiting for a court authorization to do so, or there is simply a backlog of devices to unlock, for example.


Archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/DuJxb

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[–] BooBees@fedinsfw.app 24 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yep, and the concern shouldn’t just be for yourself - authorities will clone the phones and then comb your contacts and social media and then add to their systems compiling relational data and use that to target people, often innocent people. Your phone data won’t just be used to harass or inconvenience or stress you out, it’ll be used to harm other people. You should care about that.

[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Yup.

This is why it is critical to have the numbers and contact info of as many of one's family committed to memory, not the Contact list, as possible. Cops can't get at what's in one's head (for the most part)..