Taking lock-in to a new level

londonTiger

Roland_Sausage wrote: »

More like it works until someone steals it and tries to bypass the security by changing the fingerprint reader.

Surely even the Apple haters can see why this would not be a good thing.

didnt research this, but could they have not done this so the end user/aftermarket repairer can erase touch id record and then fit a new screeen with its own touch id.

or does the bricking happen because the touch id scanner is fake and set to always approve?

kwikbreaks

Apparently the correct way to do the repair is to move the touch sensor across from the cracked screen but not all repairers knew they had to and the error is only appearing with a subsequent software update.

patman99 wrote: »

Yet another epic fail by Apple. See their market share drop as affected users don't replace their knackered iPhones with new ones, but go the Android route instead.

Already happening anyway - Apple warns iPhone sales set to fall for first time

My son always used to stick with iPhones until he finally decided £500-600 a year to keep up to date was just too high a price to pay and bought a One+ 1 instead. He's since upgraded that to the latest One+ model and given me the One+ 1. Very nice it is too although a bit on the large side.

Roland_Sausage

londonTiger wrote: »

didnt research this, but could they have not done this so the end user/aftermarket repairer can erase touch id record and then fit a new screeen with its own touch id.

or does the bricking happen because the touch id scanner is fake and set to always approve?

It's not necessarily because it is fake. It's because the phone knows it is not the original Touch ID unit fitted and therefore must be treated as suspicious as it has been tampered with.

Bear in mind that this Touch ID is used to authorise card transactions so has to be secure.

If they allowed any Tom, !!!! and Harry to replace the part with cheap parts of unknown origin and someone was the victim of card fraud then no doubt the posters above would be saying "another Apple security fail, I'm so glad I got an Android, etc"

kwikbreaks

Losing a phone used to make payments is no different from losing a contactless credit card - you'd have to report both to the bank/credit card company anyway so usage could be blocked.

They have come up with a security reason and that does highlight a design flaw but I have no doubt at all that the real motivation is to maximise the income from the devices they sold by screwing up the third party repair market.

buglawton

londonTiger wrote: »

didnt research this, but could they have not done this so the end user/aftermarket repairer can erase touch id record and then fit a new screeen with its own touch id.

or does the bricking happen because the touch id scanner is fake and set to always approve?

The scanner doesn't do the approving. The fingerprint signature is stored elsewhere in the phone's memory.

zagubov

I believe the problem doesn't develop till you upgrade your software. The golden rule with apple is every time they bring out a fresh pointless upgrade something awful happens that they don't warn you about.
Every. Flippin. Time.

patman99

So now all the back street repairs know that they have to move the fingerprint reader across from the old screen to the new one, this issue should resolve itself.

kwikbreaks

Apart from the umpteen trashed phones and until the next time I guess it will.

forgotmyname

Taking lessons from FTDI?

For those that may not know FTDI chips are often cloned. So they did an update that came bundled with windows updates that detected a fake chip and instead of saying sorry your device is fake, and not working with it they bricked your device.

Your device may have been something you bought in good faith and where the manufacturer had unknowingly bought fake chips because supply doesnt meet demand.

londonTiger

buglawton wrote: »

I find that a bit hard to believe as a plausible reason. Because the fingerprint pattern match is stored in the iPhone's memory and the yes/no question is answered by a software program, not by the fingerprint reader itself. In order to access that data you need to first log into the phone with PIN or valid fingerprint.

The hack would have to be more sophisticated: Swap the fingerprint reader, give phone back to owner, owner finds he needs to re-train the fingerprint reader, and it somehow supplies a fake fingerprint signature that any finger can later reproduce. Then get the phone back off the owner and log in with any fingerprint. Might apply to MI5 only.

[ edit ]
I also suspect that such a restriction from Apple would break an EU competition law (think: car servicing by 3rd parties under warranty - generally allowed) and a similar U.S. law or two. Has Apple really thought this thing through?

I think their thinking is a fake touch ID scanner could inject a fingerprint reading that the iPad is expecting, so they have to take zero chances and detect if the fingerprint reader has been tampered with.

Hopefully it won't be £600 down the drain and Apple will offer authorised repair for £150 odd or whatever they charge and release the devices.

I have noticed their extremely tough attitude towards security, it feels more to me like they're trying to destroy the second hand market.

Case in point:

1) an iOS device cannot make more than 3 free accounts.


2)in the past it was the case that the iPad/iPhone will be forever linked with the original account it was activated with and there was no way of checking to see what the original app store ID it is linked to. So if you buy a second hand device and then lock yourself out - the device is dead to you because only the app store device it was connected with can be used to unlock it and it wont be fully revealed to you so you cant even chase it up.

I think this has now changed and now the locking account can be changed, it is now locked to iCloud account that's logged in, but the same situation remains. If you buy a second hand phone and previous owner forgets to sign out ID and doesn't play ball - you're stuck. Additionally that user can then brick your device remote by stating it is LOST.

If a relative passes away and leaves their phone and you do not have the password to their email or icloud. There is no way for you to reclaim that under your name either.

I guess the only option is to d a MCOL against Apple.