According to security researchers, Apple quietly added a new feature in iOS 18.1 that makes your iPhone harder to hack.
404 Media reported that iPhones police stored as evidence were rebooting themselves, and it turns out this is all due to a new idle reboot feature delivered in iOS 18.1. First reported by security researcher Jiska Classen, this new feature restarts your iPhone if it has been unused for at least four days.
This puts your iPhone in its “Before First Unlock” state. This is the state your iPhone is in after restarting, requiring you to enter your PIN or password before you can use Face ID or Touch ID. Devices used by law enforcement and bad actors to break into locked iPhones have a much harder time breaking into the device when in this state. The “After first unlock” state, in which Face ID or Touch ID is active, is easier to decipher.
This means that if your iPhone is stolen or confiscated, it can’t just stay plugged in for weeks or months until it can be broken into. Or at least it will be much more difficult.
While this can be frustrating for law enforcement who store iPhones as evidence, it also seriously raises the bar for thieves and criminals, and that’s the whole point. If you haven’t used your iPhone in four days, entering your passcode isn’t a big inconvenience, but getting into the state where you need to do it is a big hassle for anyone looking to break into your device.
