A newly reported iPhone phenomenon could be bad news for both cops and robbers
iPhones are seemingly rebooting by themselves and telling nearby handsets to do the same
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A new phenomenon is reportedly causing confiscated iPhones to reboot on their own and send signals to nearby handsets to do the same – and we don’t know yet if it’s a bug or an intentional feature.
According to a report by404 Media, law enforcement officers in the US have noticed and warned of an issue whereby iPhones reboot by themselves, in turn becoming much harder to unlock without the original user’s input.
The report says that some officers based in Detroit have hypothesized that the rebooting could stem from a new security feature added iniOS 18, though this is purely conjecture.
The iPhones documented appear to reboot a day or so after being disconnected from cellular service, or after a day of inactivity.
The crux of the issue is how iPhones handle security and unlocking, as there are two main states that an iPhone can occupy when it comes to day-to-day security.
The first is known as Before First Unlock (BFU), which offers much less information and requires a passcode to disengage.
The second is After First Unlock (AFU), which displays more information on the lock screen, can be disabled with biometrics like Face ID, and, as this report implies, is easier for law enforcement to break into if necessary.
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Rebooting an iPhone returns it to the BFU stage, making it substantially harder to access by force.
What’s more, the report seemingly claims that the rebooted iPhones send wireless signals to nearby handsets that are still in the AFU state to trigger a reboot, though the technical specifics of how this would work aren’t exactly clear yet.
Appleis well-known for its strict approach to user privacy, and hascontinually refused to allow the FBI to create a backdoor into the iPhone.And as much as this new rebooting phenomenon may hinder law enforcement, it tracks that criminals and thieves would find it harder to unlock stolen phones, too.
However, asAndroid Authoritynotes, this report is down to the interpretations of law enforcement officers, and iOS 18 already has a small list of known rebooting glitches. It could be that the reporting officers have simply misunderstood a glitch affecting multiple confiscated iPhone handsets.
Apple has yet to comment on this issue, so be sure to check in with ouriPhonecoverage for the latest official updates.
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Jamie is a Mobile Computing Staff Writer for TechRadar, responsible for covering phones and tablets. He’s been tech-obsessed from a young age and has written for various news and culture publications. Jamie graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Since starting out as a music blogger in 2020, he’s worked on local news stories, finance trade magazines, and multimedia political features. He brings a love for digital journalism and consumer technology to TechRadar. Outside of the TechRadar office, Jamie can be found binge-watching tech reviews, DJing in local venues around London, or challenging friends to a game of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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