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Latest iOS Update Shows Apple Can Use Software To Break Phones Repaired By Independent Shops (vice.com)
The latest version of iOS fixes several bugs, including one that caused a loss of touch functionality on a small subset of phones that had been repaired with certain third-party screens and had been updated to iOS 11. "Addresses an issue where touch input was unresponsive on some iPhone 6S displays because they were not serviced with genuine Apple parts," the update reads. "Note: Non-genuine replacement displays may have compromised visual quality and may fail to work correctly. Apple-certified screen repairs are performed by trusted experts who use genuine Apple parts. See support.apple.com for more information." Jason Koebler writes via Motherboard: "This is a reminder that Apple seems to have the ability to push out software updates that can kill hardware and replacement parts it did not sell iPhone customers itself, and that it can fix those same issues remotely." From the report: So let's consider what actually happened here. iPhones that had been repaired and were in perfect working order suddenly stopped working after Apple updated its software. Apple was then able to fix the problem remotely. Apple then put out a warning blaming the parts that were used to do the repair. Poof -- phone doesn't work. Poof -- phone works again. In this case, not all phones that used third party parts were affected, and there's no reason to think that, in this case, Apple broke these particular phones on purpose. But there is currently nothing stopping the company from using software to control unauthorized repair: For instance, you cannot replace the home button on an iPhone 7 without Apple's proprietary "Horizon Machine" that re-syncs a new home button with the repaired phone. This software update is concerning because it not only undermines the reputation of independent repair among Apple customers, but because it shows that phones that don't use "genuine" parts could potentially one day be bricked remotely.
The subject line seems a little inflammatory. Any company that makes hardware and software can do this. This isn't news. It would be news if they were actively doing it intentionally. In this case, they fixed the issue.
Let's turn a story about Apple fixing a compatibility issue with non-warrantied third party parts into a story about how Apple is evil and could make phones that use third party parts not work!
You can buy Nikon lenses to go on your Nikon camera. You can buy Sigma lenses to go on your Nikon camera. Nikon never gave Sigma the specifications to make sure their lenses were compatible with Nikon's hardware. Sometimes when Nikon puts out a new camera body it breaks functionality with a Sigma lens. This is not Nikon's problem. When this happens you send your lens back to Sigma and they reflash it, or you buy a special dock that lets you do it yourself.
Making sure your third party screen keeps working when Apple does an update is not Apple's problem, but they did it anyway presumably because it was cheaper than the bad PR they would otherwise get. If it was a really complex problem to solve they wouldn't fix it and you'd have no right to complain about it.
Nah, spark plugs are a super simplistic example. Every spark plus is essentially the same, if it fits it'll pretty much work. Maybe not optimally, but if the fuel gets blown up by a spark, it's done it's job.
No, this would be more like if you replaced your Mass Airflow sensor with a third party part that provides correct readings to your ECU under normal circumstances. However, Ford later updates the firmware to provide better performance or more efficiency and accesses a function of the MAF that the aftermarket part doesn't support causing your car to trip a code and set off the Check Engine light and/ or perform poorly or inefficiently due to incorrect readings from the MAF.
Then, once Ford is made aware of they issue, they release another update that checks for the aftermarket part and uses the compatible function call to read data from it, thereby making good to the end user.
Now that doesn't sound quite as bad, does it?
Or perhaps it is unsupported hardware and as such a code update caused it to stop working cause you know, why would they test against unsupported hardware? When they realized a non-significant number of people were affected and the fix was simple they pushed it out.
This is no different than people using undocumented APIs in their code then crying when they stop working. Be glad apple fixed it this time.
This isn't news. It would be news if they were actively doing it intentionally
That wouldn't be news. We've already seen that. I remember back when I had my iPod touch, I wanted an A/V output cable but they were like $50 for the authorized cables. Found one on eBay for $5 and it worked perfectly fine. Then the update for iOS 4 (I think that's the version) came out and suddenly the cable no longer worked, and the screen displayed a message box saying only authorized cables are supported.
Over the years there have been additional instances of the doing this same thing, though this is the most recent one I can personally attest to since (due to this sort of behavior) that iPod touch was the last apple product I will ever purchase.
A) Apple can’t update them remotely. Users have for as long as I can remember had to provide their password to confirm any updates to the OS. It’s specifically done that way to prevent attackers from loading updates they created or control.
B) iOS has always been billed as being made to run specifically on Apple’s hardware. You’re welcome to try using it on unsupported hardware, but Apple has never claimed it supports any hardware other than their own. If you choose to try doing so, you do so at your own risk.
C) Hanlon’s razor would suggest it’s more likely that this was a simple mistake than a case of malice. After all, it’s hardly unreasonable that an entirely unsupported hardware configuration would accidentally get broken by a major OS update. Were this a case of malice, it wouldn’t be getting fixed at all, let alone as quickly as it was.