The Next iOS Update Has a Feature to Prevent Cops From Searching an iPhone

slate.com

12 points·dsr12··7 comments

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15037499

Sort of. It requires you to know in advance that a search is possible/likely, and doesn’t do any more than using the wrong finger repeatedly in previous versions.

It is a little easier to kick off, but it is hidden inside an ‘emergency’ mode - click the power button 5 times.

> and doesn’t do any more than using the wrong finger repeatedly in previous versions.

pressing home 5x instead of triggering the wrong fingerprint lockout is probably 20x faster, and can be done in the pocket/blind much more easily.

It also has the functionality to be able to wipe your phone when failing to unlock after 10 tries. It sounds so arduous to trigger in a tight situation that it's not useful in the real world.

So I'm guessing anyone employing it gets waterboarded?

This was never a technical problem to start with.

(kidding about the waterboarding ofc...that only applies if you meet the criteria for random searches)

Why not three? Five might be too long.

Anyone who has used touch ID with wet fingers (happens all the time when I'm cooking) can attest to why this probably needs to be a tiny bit more than 3. 5 feels about right to me for this feature.

As an aside, if you are so paranoid that 5 is too much, or if this limitation exposes you to legitimate risk, you shouldn't be using Touch ID at all. Much harder to extract long password from your head than it is to force your finger on the sensor.

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