Apple Infuriating Customers By Auto Bricking Their iPhones!

[DroidModderX]

This story makes my blood boil and I don't even carry an iPhone! Apple has decided that they want full control of iPhone repairs. There have been mom and pop iPhone repair shops since the beginning of the iPhone. Now those shops could possibly go out of business.

Apple is issuing an update which checks for original parts. If your iPhone has been serviced and the repair shop used a part that was not sold to them by apple your phone instantly brick showing "Error 53". Your data on the phone is wiped and the device is rendered useless. There is no way to fix this so not only do you lose all your data for good, you now have to go an buy a new phone. If you receive this error Apple will apparently replace the phone for roughly $300. This is on top of whatever you paid to have your phone fixed the first time.

This should be illegal. Car manufacturers can not insist that you only use their parts. How would you feel if dell built a kill switch into your computer which would go off if you decided to use Kingston memory instead of Dell memory?! Apparently the error has been an issue with phones that have had the home button replaced. Apple's explanation is that a 3rd party fingerprint scanner could be malicious and could compromise the customer's security.

Via The Guardian

 

[leeshor]

"for roughly $300. This is on top of whatever you paid to have your phone fixed the first time."

Or $300 to bork it.

Pretty nasty.

 

[mountainbikermark]

Bummer.
I guess Samsung will make fun of that in a new commercial........then follow suit at some point soon after.
I remember back in the day when Moto added a chip need into their phones to use only their oem batteries that had the chip. Man oh man. We thought that was evil. This story is so much worse.

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[johnomaz]

Queue the lawsuit. Theres no way this will stand up in court. Apple loves to scream about other companies being monopolies and they continue to pull crap like this.

I'm with you DroidModderX, this makes my blood boil too and I haven't used an iPhone in years.

 

[dezymond]

I hope this isn't the direction the rest of the industry is going, Apple is going to make some enemies from those on their side of the field as well.

 

[cr6]

One more reason not to buy an iPhone. (Not that I've ever considered it to begin with) No boiling blood here....I actually like it. I don't know why this surprises anyone....this is SO like Apple. They've always been controlling, this just bumps that control up a notch. Who knows, maybe it'll drive more consumers to consider Android. [emoji2] There's no way the "industry" is headed in this direction, at least not with Android devices.... there are far too many manufacturers involved.

S5 tap'n

 

[xsylus]

So ironic how Apple Macintosh had release that 1984 commercial showing how they were against fascism. While I understand, to a degree, what Apple is trying to accomplish it seems they're tactics are lacking something. In the end it's just one more reason to go with - or in my case - stay with Android. I've been able to unbrick Android devices, plus I love how easy it is to restore all the data right down to the wallpaper settings. This is the first year that Apple hasn't been able to corner the mobile device market and now they're just shooting themselves in the foot. Heck they released the Apple Watch really late in the game and I wasn't even remotely impressed with it; just another clunky, featureless, lackluster, gimmicky gadget.

 

[liftedplane]

OMFG I cannot stop laughing at this right now.

Way to go apple, wonderful, way to really show your customers how much you care. I've only EVER bought one apple device, that was an iPod back in 2006 for an ex girlfriend while I was in basic training.... it was the 128gb version and I had it engraved, she still has it.

I hope this blows up in their face so hard.... honestly. I can't stand their business model, their devices or anything about them, this is absolutely amazing and I'm surprised they didn't do something ridiculous like this sooner.

I'm sure there will be some kind of workaround that will prevent this from happening. regardless BRAVISSIMO apple, BRAVISSIMO!

 

[Jeffrey]

According to Apple, when a repair is made that involves the Touch ID Sensor a pairing process needs to be done to make sure the device is secure. If the repair shop is unaware or is unable to pair the device an error 53 will be displayed and the phone becomes useless. Here is Apple's statement.

“We protect fingerprint data using a secure enclave, which is uniquely paired to the touch ID sensor. When iPhone is serviced by an authorised Apple service provider or Apple retail store for changes that affect the touch ID sensor, the pairing is re-validated. This check ensures the device and the iOS features related to touch ID remain secure. Without this unique pairing, a malicious touch ID sensor could be substituted, thereby gaining access to the secure enclave. When iOS detects that the pairing fails, touch ID, including Apple Pay, is disabled so the device remains secure.”

She adds: “When an iPhone is serviced by an unauthorised repair provider, faulty screens or other invalid components that affect the touch ID sensor could cause the check to fail if the pairing cannot be validated. With a subsequent update or restore, additional security checks result in an ‘error 53’ being displayed … If a customer encounters an unrecoverable error 53, we recommend contacting Apple support.”

 

[mwrobel1974]

They already screwed people who have bought used devices with Activation Lock, now this.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[RETG]

As written in the original article this appears to be in violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty act (the one used when referencing auto repairs) but covers any consumer product as defined as "any tangible personal property for sale and that is normally used for personal, family, or household purposes." So, if the original article is totally factual, I could see a nice class action suit coming down the pike.

However, if the article is not totally factual, and is a problem with a programming of the sensor to the phone, then it will take a good attorney to figure that one out.

It was not the Magnuson-Moss act that required auto manufacturers to release specialized tools for servicing the vehicles, it was Federal emission laws. So the code scanners, available via the original manufacturer or aftermarket, are available to anyone who want to purchase them for diagnosis of emission related equipment. However, there are still specialized tools for non-emission related items that are not required by law to be made available.

 

[Miller6386]

According to Apple, when a repair is made that involves the Touch ID Sensor a pairing process needs to be done to make sure the device is secure. If the repair shop is unaware or is unable to pair the device an error 53 will be displayed and the phone becomes useless. Here is Apple's statement.

“We protect fingerprint data using a secure enclave, which is uniquely paired to the touch ID sensor. When iPhone is serviced by an authorised Apple service provider or Apple retail store for changes that affect the touch ID sensor, the pairing is re-validated. This check ensures the device and the iOS features related to touch ID remain secure. Without this unique pairing, a malicious touch ID sensor could be substituted, thereby gaining access to the secure enclave. When iOS detects that the pairing fails, touch ID, including Apple Pay, is disabled so the device remains secure.”

She adds: “When an iPhone is serviced by an unauthorised repair provider, faulty screens or other invalid components that affect the touch ID sensor could cause the check to fail if the pairing cannot be validated. With a subsequent update or restore, additional security checks result in an ‘error 53’ being displayed … If a customer encounters an unrecoverable error 53, we recommend contacting Apple support.”

Thanks. This is also the way I read it. It is just the Touch ID sensor not other parts of the phone so much. I can easily see someone creating a new sensor with a built in back door that would upload crucial info back to the guy who created it. I don't see that as a bad move by Apple. Now if they were checking ALL components somehow.. The screen and or battery than that would be out of line.

 

[pc747]

As much as we may want to complain @Jeffrey brought up a good point in his comment. All Apple have to do is say the word "safety". At the end of the day Apple will win because of the fact that they explained how the touch screen and its fingerprint scanner are all interconnected. And with banks agreeing to be apart of Pay (Apple/Samsung/Android) as long as the data can be secured Apple wins this argument in court 100/100 times even with a 1 yr rookie attorney representing them.

Does this suck, yup, but I would not be surprised to see other manufacturers follow suit. Again when those photos leaked a few years ago the tech industry went into full pursuit in protection mode. I expect that Apple and other manufacturers will charge a pretty fee for mom and pops to get their new authorization.

 

[bkdodger]

I agree sucks for sure ...I do have to say I've seen plenty of these repair places around here and I don't know how people go replace screens from them ...I know it's about cost savings but some places have no business touching your phone ...


6s Plus [emoji390]

 

[mountainbikermark]

As much as we may want to complain @Jeffrey brought up a good point in his comment. All Apple have to do is say the word "safety". At the end of the day Apple will win because of the fact that they explained how the touch screen and its fingerprint scanner are all interconnected. And with banks agreeing to be apart of Pay (Apple/Samsung/Android) as long as the data can be secured Apple wins this argument in court 100/100 times even with a 1 yr rookie attorney representing them.

Does this suck, yup, but I would not be surprised to see other manufacturers follow suit. Again when those photos leaked a few years ago the tech industry went into full pursuit in protection mode. I expect that Apple and other manufacturers will charge a pretty fee for mom and pops to get their new authorization.

"Please protect me from those evil identity thieves disguised as small business owners".
Does Samsung make any of the affected parts for Apple? The more I think about it the more I'm convinced Samsung continues to make parts for Apple so they can reverse engineer them into their own products. That's why I said in my previous post that Samsung will most likely do the same thing. They might add it into Knox, or not, but with so many so worried about theft they'll also get away with it after poking fun at Apple first. "It's not a smartphone. It's a Galaxy" after all.

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