iPhones might be harder for police to unlock, thanks to new reboot feature | TechCrunch

New code introduced in the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system could make it more difficult for both police and thieves to unlock iPhones.

404 Media reported Thursday that law enforcement officials were warning each other that phones being stored for forensic examination seemed to be rebooting themselves — something that security experts confirmed in a follow-up story. After the reboot, it’s harder for those phones to be unlocked by password-cracking tools.

Apple did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

This reboot appears to take place after iPhones with iOS 18.1 have not been unlocked for a set period of time. According to Chris Wade, founder of mobile analysis company Corellium, iPhones seem to reboot after their fourth day of in a locked state.

Matthew Green, a cryptographer and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, described this as “a huge improvement in terms of security” that “probably doesn’t inconvenience anyone” — though the police might disagree.