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The iPhone 7 Has Arbitrary Software Locks That Prevent Repair (vice.com)

Posted by msmash on from the things-going-south dept.

Jason Koebler, reporting for Motherboard: Apple has taken new and extreme measures to make the iPhone unrepairable. The company is now using software locks to prevent independent repair of specific parts of the phone. Specifically, the home buttons of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are not user replaceable, raising questions about both the future repairability of Apple products and the future of the thriving independent repair industry. The iPhone 7 home button will only work with the original home button that it was shipped with; if it breaks and needs to be replaced, a new one will only work if it is "recalibrated" in an Apple Store.

7 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. But people will keep buying them... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...so this'll continue unabated. Just like how gamers bitch and moan about unfinished games being released, and then still go out and buy the latest call of duty on release day.

  2. Not a terrible thing by mrbluejello · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This does not seem unreasonable. I say this because the home button is also a fingerprint reader, which is a security device. If a shop installs some kind of 3rd party button there, the security of the device could be compromised.

    Apple's garden is walled. It keeps the users in, but also keeps the bad things out.https://apple.slashdot.org/story/17/04/07/1734249/the-iphone-7-has-arbitrary-software-locks-that-prevent-repair#

    1. Re:Not a terrible thing by EndlessNameless · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The issue is that the fingerprint sensor is trusted to neither store fingerprint data nor replay finger presses.

      If you accept data from untrusted sensors, an attacker could replace the sensor with a device that will store valid finger scans and retransmit them when triggered by the attacker.

      So you need both trusted firmware and a secure pairing process to ensure the device is not compromised in this manner.

      While I suspect this move is mostly motivated by a desire to obstruct third-party repairs, there is also a legitimate security concern with this particular component.

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      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  3. Secure by design by krisbrowne42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You mean the fingerprint scanner that interacts directly with the secure enclave chip outside the OS? The one that could be misused by various actors if replaced with act-alike hardware? I'm not sensing the problem here - Feature not a Bug.

    1. Re:Secure by design by nbvb · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are 100% correct. Don't feel the trolls - this is clickbait headlines and a BS story. If you believe in security, this is a good thing.

  4. Not an ARBITRARY lock at all by jarrowwx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Imagine a world where in order to unlock your phone all I have to do is open it up and swap out your home button with one that will let any finger unlock the phone. The original poster is trying to paint Apple as some kind of bad guy trying to take away the viability of the repair market. The truth is, they are trying to keep their phones secure by preventing an obvious attack vector. Thank you, Apple.

  5. Re: Hey Apple... by ewanm89 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They are saying you could replace it with one that records the data from the sensor and then replays it later at the attackers whim. Making and using a jelly finger is a much better, easier, cheaper and more covert attack vector and so you are correct that the excuse is bull for the real reason of stopping people replacing commonly failing parts in their electronic devices without paying the corporate overlords their cut.