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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is the latest salvo in the never-ending battle between Apple and companies that help cops \u2014 sometimes those in authoritarian<\/a> countries<\/a> \u2014 break into iPhones.<\/p>\n In November 2024, 404 Media revealed<\/a> 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 \u201cinactivity reboot\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the time of Apple\u2019s change, law enforcement agents expressed concern<\/a> about this new feature, given that oftentimes they can\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n The new technology to get around inactivity reboot was developed by Magnet Forensics, the company behind GrayKey, a popular tool sold to law enforcement agencies that allows them to unlock and access data stored in iPhones and Android smartphones<\/a>. Magnet has developed a new device called GrayKey Preserve and a feature for its regular GrayKey devices called Evidence Preservation Mode, according to the video.\u00a0<\/p>\n This post is for paid members only<\/p>\n Become a paid member for unlimited ad-free access to articles, bonus podcast content, and more.<\/p>\n