The iPhone 7 Has Arbitrary Software Locks That Prevent Repair

Megalith

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If the home button on your iPhone 7 breaks, any repairs will have to be done via Apple, as the company has introduced software that makes it impossible for third parties to fix it. Such a repair would require the fruit company’s proprietary “iPhone Calibration Machine,” which sounds totally legit. Those who attempt to replace the home button will find that Touch ID and return-to-home functionality will no longer work.

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.
 
Really looking forward to seeing how Apple fans defend this particular move.

I hear that the Australian government is already putting the smack down on Apple for this and I very much hope that other governments follow suit or we'll be seeing a lot more of this blatantly anti-consumer behavior.
 
I brought this up before. The home button to software activated.
Not surprised.

But Samsung has also ditched a physical click home button. You have may to replace the entire screen to fix it.
 
Welcome to walled garden for repairing. I imagine other phone makers will follow.
No competition in repairs means paying top dollar now.
 
meh, no biggie, I like apple, its their playground, their rules.
 
Not an Apple fan, but if someone locks their phone with touch ID, then the phone is stolen and Apple allows someone to just put another touch ID on there to unlock it .. well you figure it out from there.

But why have the finger print saved into that specific part? Why not save it into a chip on the mainboard and read from the board when you try the sensor? I mean, common fucking sense.
 
But why have the finger print saved into that specific part? Why not save it into a chip on the mainboard and read from the board when you try the sensor? I mean, common fucking sense.
The home button is not just a button, there is a lot of circuitry attached to it to handle this stuff. There is probably a technical reason that the parts are not integrated into the rest of the phone. I doubt "blocking 3rd party repair" is anywhere close to the top of list of concerns they have. If they did care about this, the main 3rd party repair done (replacing screens) would also be blocked.
 
The home button is not just a button, there is a lot of circuitry attached to it to handle this stuff. There is probably a technical reason that the parts are not integrated into the rest of the phone.

I'll be honest, I can't really comment any farther than I have. I haven't done Apple repairs since the 4s and I would hazard that its quite a bit different these days. I just feel that the circuitry could be on the mainboard and not tied into something people are constantly pressing on.
 
Well they could simply disable the security features but for god's sake,,, return to home function... how in hell can this be considered problematic with 3rd parties ?
I mean their argument is OK for some lock down but to go to the extent of even the basic functionality... that's is greedy.
 
But why have the finger print saved into that specific part? Why not save it into a chip on the mainboard and read from the board when you try the sensor? I mean, common fucking sense.
Or a way to calibrate it yourself without needing Apple to hold your hands. Cars have a similar system with FOBs where some cars you can do it yourself, and some can only be done at the dealer. Though I'm sure there's going to be a way around Apples... restriction.

Apple currently doesn't have the infrastructure to quickly repair their phones, and should do what they can to work with repair shops.
 
I have said this before if we get the right to repair passed the response from the companies will be to encase the insides in resin and call it a waterproofing and durability feature good luck repairing the brick to replace anything except maybe the battery would require milling to the component through resin.
 
This happened in iphone 6 also, people breaking their screens and getting third party replacement only to find out the home button fingerprint reader no longer worked.

Similar shit.
 
The real problem is everyone wants to find fault in something they don't understand, and lay blame everywhere but on themselves. Funny thing is if these same people who are clamoring for 3rd party fixes, would blow a gasket when that 3rd party now has the ability to empty their bank account.

The same shit is happening with the Auto industry. When the can bus is encrypted end to end and your local shop can't diagnose a MIL people are gonna shit a brick, but the second someone gets driven off a cliff those same people are gonna say something should have been done to prevent that.

Like it or not connectivity is the future, adapt or die.
 
I have said this before if we get the right to repair passed the response from the companies will be to encase the insides in resin and call it a waterproofing and durability feature good luck repairing the brick to replace anything except maybe the battery would require milling to the component through resin.
Lots of phones are already hard to repair. With each iteration they making it harder and harder to repair. Just now companies will not be able to repair it themselves either and just tell you need a new phone.
 
meh, no biggie, I like apple, its their playground, their rules.

That's a horrible analogy, really. People don't license the use of an iPhone, they own it, entirely, and as such if Apple happens to leave some kind of "auto-destruct" type feature on the device (more or less what we're talking about) that bricks or makes the device unusable to the owner because of a repair that really is a huge issue. Anytime something like this happens it creates a backlash - a few years ago Amazon deleted content from people's Kindles for various reasons and it caused such a shitstorm they had to back track pretty fast on it and it's happened with other companies as well.

I get the security aspect, seriously I do but even so this whole idea - in any situation - of a manufacturer disabling functionality after a purchase of a device that the end user owns outright is just ridiculous.
 
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Really looking forward to seeing how Apple fans defend this particular move.

I hear that the Australian government is already putting the smack down on Apple for this and I very much hope that other governments follow suit or we'll be seeing a lot more of this blatantly anti-consumer behavior.

Then I am sure you will absolve Apple of all culpability when someone gets their stuff stolen because of a 3rd party repair, right? Defend Apple or not, the touch ID stuff is a security measure.
 
That's a horrible analogy, really. People don't license the use of an iPhone, they own it, entirely, and as such if Apple happens to leave some kind of "auto-destruct" type feature on the device (more or less what we're talking about) that bricks or makes the device unusable to the owner because of a repair that really is a huge issue. Anytime something like this happens it creates a backlash - a few years ago Amazon deleted content from people's Kindles for various reasons and it caused such a shitstorm they had to back track pretty fast on it and it's happened with other companies as well.

I get the security aspect, seriously I do but even so this whole idea - in any situation - of a manufacturer disabling functionality after a purchase of a device that the end user owns outright is just ridiculous.

Well, since the owner owns it outright, they should also own the responsibility if anything goes wrong after the fact.
 
That's a horrible analogy, really. People don't license the use of an iPhone, they own it, entirely, and as such if Apple happens to leave some kind of "auto-destruct" type feature on the device (more or less what we're talking about) that bricks or makes the device unusable to the owner because of a repair that really is a huge issue. Anytime something like this happens it creates a backlash - a few years ago Amazon deleted content from people's Kindles for various reasons and it caused such a shitstorm they had to back track pretty fast on it and it's happened with other companies as well.

I get the security aspect, seriously I do but even so this whole idea - in any situation - of a manufacturer disabling functionality after a purchase of a device that the end user owns outright is just ridiculous.

Nobody forced me to buy an iPhone, there are alternatives. It's up to the end user to decide what's best for them.
 
Well, since the owner owns it outright, they should also own the responsibility if anything goes wrong after the fact.

What part of this ever said they're not? If the phone breaks they take it to get it repaired, just because they choose not to go back to Apple directly to get a repair done - most damage isn't necessarily covered under warranty if it's not an actual defect and customer-caused which is the case 99.9% of the time more than likely - that doesn't give Apple a right to say "Sorry, you didn't do things the way we'd really prefer you do them so, time to buy another iPhone..." or something similar.

Once it's purchased, the phone doesn't belong to Apple anymore, not much else really matters here and that's where Apple's ownership rights or anything even remotely close to a control aspect is severed.
 
Isn't the power cord designed with a proprietary IC in it, so no unauthorized 3rd party (affordable) power cords are allowed. Apple has been ding this kind of shit since the 90's. Don't buy Apple products.
 
Nobody forced me to buy an iPhone, there are alternatives. It's up to the end user to decide what's best for them.

Did you miss my point, 'cause I get the distinct impression you did 'cause I said that: it's up to the end user to decide what's best for them and in some situations saving some money by having a repair done by someone other than Apple itself - as noted above most damage caused by the end user is not covered under warranty so that means they're going to have to pay for the repair out of pocket - is what they determine to be best for them.

Just because apparently Apple doesn't like people stepping out of "The Reality Distortion Field" then they get penalized for doing so with a device they own is pretty fucked up, seriously.

Sounds like a class action lawsuit just waiting to happen.
 
What part of this ever said they're not? If the phone breaks they take it to get it repaired, just because they choose not to go back to Apple directly to get a repair done - most damage isn't necessarily covered under warranty if it's not an actual defect and customer-caused which is the case 99.9% of the time more than likely - that doesn't give Apple a right to say "Sorry, you didn't do things the way we'd really prefer you do them so, time to buy another iPhone..." or something similar.

Once it's purchased, the phone doesn't belong to Apple anymore, not much else really matters here and that's where Apple's ownership rights or anything even remotely close to a control aspect is severed.

That, of course, includes if their identity gets owned because of a shady 3rd party repair, right? Apple will hold no liability at that point, right?
 
Did you miss my point, 'cause I get the distinct impression you did 'cause I said that: it's up to the end user to decide what's best for them and in some situations saving some money by having a repair done by someone other than Apple itself - as noted above most damage caused by the end user is not covered under warranty so that means they're going to have to pay for the repair out of pocket - is what they determine to be best for them.

Just because apparently Apple doesn't like people stepping out of "The Reality Distortion Field" then they get penalized for doing so with a device they own is pretty fucked up, seriously.

Sounds like a class action lawsuit just waiting to happen.

Or you know, buy an android if you don't want to deal with apples way of doing things
 
That, of course, includes if their identity gets owned because of a shady 3rd party repair, right? Apple will hold no liability at that point, right?

Why would anyone think otherwise? Having third party repair work pretty much guarantees Apple is instantly out of the loop as the warranty is rendered null and void at that point anyway.
 
Or you know, buy an android if you don't want to deal with apples way of doing things

Android is a mobile device operating system, this has nothing to do with the OS and you damned well know it. This is a device ownership dilemma and nothing more, if you want to be obtuse about things you're gonna have to try harder. :D
 
But why have the finger print saved into that specific part? Why not save it into a chip on the mainboard and read from the board when you try the sensor? I mean, common fucking sense.

The Intel Trusted Platform Module works the same way. Cryptographic processing is always self contained. That's how it stays secure. As you said, common fucking sense.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module
 
The Intel Trusted Platform Module works the same way. Cryptographic processing is always self contained. That's how it stays secure. As you said, common fucking sense.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module

It doesn't make sense to put this self contained in a replaceable unit. If the fingerprint was in a chip secured to the mainboard how is that less safe? You could replace that button 10 times and not be able to get past the fingerprint.
 
Think I'll keep my S5. Did the internal storage thing to combine internal memory and sd card via adb. got a 7500 battery user replaceable. Last user fixable great Samsung phone. Both Apple and Samsung can go you know what....
 
meh, no biggie, I like apple, its their playground, their rules.

Yeah, well their playground is full of dog turds. Give me the freedom to repair my own device or give me another company that will.
 
Yeah, well their playground is full of dog turds. Give me the freedom to repair my own device or give me another company that will.

You can repair your own iPhone, you just can't replace the biometric security sensor. If it was easy to replace the sensor, it may make it easy for less law abiding people to access phones.
 
Yet another throw away device. I consider smartphones, tablets, those thin fully integrated laptops (like Surface Pro, MacBook Pro), Intel NUC sized devices (NUC, Brix, Zotac, etc) with Core U cpus, Intel Sticks, and even Single Board Computers (like RaspPi) all to be throw away devices, especially after the warranty expires, as there are no parts to replace, or can't find parts like on ebay.
 
Give me the freedom to repair my own device or give me another company that will.

Samsung, Sony, Asus, Nokia, LG, HTC, plus many more

All make phones and you are allowed to buy one of those if Apple isn't your thing ;)
 
Class Action in 3...2...1...

Why do they keep doing this to themselves?
 
Then I am sure you will absolve Apple of all culpability when someone gets their stuff stolen because of a 3rd party repair, right? Defend Apple or not, the touch ID stuff is a security measure.

"Company doesn't allow third party repair of biomemtric security hardware."

Makes sense when you think about it this way... But lets all hate on Apple instead.

Sure, and that could easily have been dealt with by forcing the user to enter their pin number after a reboot or even a hardware change.

The only thing Apple is protecting with this policy is their own profit margins.
 
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