Apple secretly rolled out a new privacy feature and it looks like it hasn’t gone down well with the US law enforcement officials. As per media reports, officials found themselves shocked and confused when they witnessed seized iPhones randomly rebooting themselves while in custody. They were clueless about why this was happening. Reports now suggest that these reboots are linked to a new feature in the iOS 18.1 software update.
With this new feature that Apple has silently rolled out, iPhones restart autonomously after a certain period of inactivity. This makes it difficult to unlock the iPhones. A 404 Media report revealed that Apple has launched an “inactivity reboot” function that reboots iPhones left unlocked for a specified duration. This reboot shifts the phone from an “After First Unlock” (AFU) state, where it’s more accessible to forensic tools, to a “Before First Unlock” (BFU) state. In this stage, it becomes slightly more difficult to digitally access the iPhones.
As per security experts, this feature can work as a protective mechanism against unauthorised access by thieves, as well as by law enforcement officials. Forensic specialist Christopher Vance, who works for Magnet Forensics, was one of the first to spot this feature. On a group chat with forensic experts, he shared the “inactivity times” feature of iOS 18. He revealed that the timer triggers a device reboot after a preset time. This makes it really difficult for forensic tools to access the phone’s contents.
This reboot feature makes it to the list of issues that law enforcement agencies have with tech companies like Apple. Apple’s defence is that it prioritises user privacy. On the other hand, law enforcement agencies that need to access device data for criminal investigations are not really happy about it.