A new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhones

There is an seemingly caller iOS 18 information diagnostic that reboots iPhones that haven’t been unlocked successful a fewer days, frustrating constabulary by making it harder to interruption into suspects’ iPhones, according to 404 Media.

404 Media, which archetypal reported constabulary warnings astir the reboots connected Thursday, writes that restarted iPhones participate a much unafraid “Before First Unlock,” oregon BFU state. Now, it seems Apple added “inactivity reboot” codification successful iOS 18.1 that triggers iPhones to restart aft they’ve been locked for 4 days, Chris Wade, who founded mobile investigation institution Corellium, told the outlet.

Both iOS and Android devices participate this BFU authorities erstwhile they’re restarted, requiring you to participate your passcode (or PIN) to unlock your phone, limiting what benignant of information forensics experts tin extract, according to a blog post from Dakota State University’s digital forensics lab.

Apple didn’t instantly respond to The Verge’s petition for comment. The institution has steadily made iPhones harder to compromise implicit the years, putting it astatine likelihood with instrumentality enforcement and raising the specter of authorities regulations requiring encryption backdoors. Apple has repeatedly resisted authorities’ requests to make backdoors, though that hasn’t stopped instrumentality enforcement from finding its ain workarounds.