Ask HN: Is it really that easy to erase someone's iphone?

2 pointshellofunk3 comments

This FBI vs Apple conflict seems to be about FBI's request that Apple disable the auto-erase feature on iOS devices that kicks in after X bad unlock codes are entered (I think 10).

Does this mean that you can pick up anyone's iphone and within a few minutes erase everything on it just by entering a few bad codes?

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They have to have this feature enabled. It will tell you "x tries remaining" after entering a bad PIN. You'd have to be a real asshole to do this though.

So presumably the phone the FBI wants to unlock, the terrorist in fact had this feature enabled.

No. To enable this feature you would need to enter the passcode for the phone to make any changes.

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