Error 53 bricks iPhone 6 after updating to iOS9 if it has been repaired by a 3rd Party

[Mew]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

this time I don't agree with you

 

it;s like car manufacturer would say put engine oil from X company, but you used from Y company

and as soon as you go for scheduled car inspection that car would brick itself because of it

 

it absolutely is a an anti-consumer practice

by doing this, Apple forces the consumer in a corner and the consumer isn't even aware of the issue until it's too late

they don't block access to services related, like Apple Pay, they just brick your phone

 

do you think next time those affected by it would buy an iPhone? I seriously doubt that

there is no more growth in the smartphone market, it's saturated

 

---

 

I still don't' understand why people buy their overpriced HW, I guess they really like being treated like trash

That's a poor analogy. I think a better one would be those wireless beepers that unlocks your car. If you get it replaced at a third party repair shop,  it immobilizes your car. 

[Lethal Seraph]

But hey, finally the iPhone is finally useful, as a paperweight.

[patrickjp93]

1 hour ago, zMeul said:

this time I don't agree with you

 

it;s like car manufacturer would say put engine oil from X company, but you used from Y company

and as soon as you go for scheduled car inspection that car would brick itself because of it

 

it absolutely is a an anti-consumer practice

by doing this, Apple forces the consumer in a corner and the consumer isn't even aware of the issue until it's too late

they don't block access to services related, like Apple Pay, they just brick your phone

 

do you think next time those affected by it would buy an iPhone? I seriously doubt that

there is no more growth in the smartphone market, it's saturated

 

---

 

I still don't' understand why people buy their overpriced HW, I guess they really like being treated like trash

It's because their hardware and software combo is superior for the vast majority of common consumer use cases. I need reliability and a no-nonsense useability because my time is extremely valuable both to me and my employers. I cannot spend the time futzing around with Android's numerous settings and skins, not to mention 80 different ROMs. I'm sorry but the Android ecosystem suffers the same thing the consumer Linux ecosystem does: fragmentation. It wastes my time. I'd rather pay $1300 total for a phone that will easily last me six years than have to pay 600 every 3 years for Android's newest replacements since updates don't come along and security is an issue for me. It is not anti-consumer. It's anti-stupid.

[patrickjp93]

34 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

so to protect you from your phone getting bricked by a third party apple is going to brick it themselves how thoughtful of them

No, to protect your banking info and fingerprint data from being stolen, Apple is willing to brick its phones when 3rd parties have messed with them.

[spartaman64]

12 hours ago, patrickjp93 said:

No, to protect your banking info and fingerprint data from being stolen, Apple is willing to brick its phones when 3rd parties have messed with them.

you dont have to unlock your phone and what if you want to fix it yourself

[Nineshadow]

You could argue it's a security feature , but in this case it really is a way to stop 3rd party repair shops.

I mean , I understand if you would change the touchID button the device would lock itself up. It's totally fine. But not being able to recover from that , at all? That's a bit ridiculous. I understand that Apple wants their phone to be really secure , but come on. There should be some way to recover from that bricked state.

[NtB]

7 hours ago, RedRound2 said:

Wow, poor job OP as this is only half the story. First correct your title that this is only in the case of touch ID enabled home button. Second apple has acknowledged the issue and this is what they say

Source: http://9to5mac.com/2016/02/05/error-53-iphone-6/

Yeah but all the data is permanently wiped as well. There should be a way for at least Apple themselves to recover the data because it's kind of messed up. 

[ionbasa]

I wanted to chime in here. I think a lot of people are missing the main reason behind this happening:

Unofficial third party home button fingerprint scanners. 

Now, since the fingerprint reader is tied directly to hardware level security and keychains (I believe), it is completely possible that an malicious home button could be sold on the market such that it performs man in the middle attacks in addition to having access to an secure hardware level realm in the CPU.

 

First of all, anybody who thinks compromising security to let possible malicious fingerprint readers to be used is out of their mind. Think of it like this: A few months or years from now we find out that fingerprint data along with secure information (account, payments) were compromised because of such an issue. That would result in an situation much worse than what happened here. 

 

Yes, its inconvenient that your phone becomes bricked. But in the grand scheme of things, that's better than letting an unknown device passing through fingerprint data (and possibly having that data skimmed, MIM attack, etc.)

 

Its like any security feature you see in the real world, here's something analogous: Cars have smart keys nowadays that are paired to the ignition controller and ECU. Try to replace the ignition and key, and the ECU knows not to validate and start the car because its mismatched. Same goes for some ECUs on nice cars: You can't replace it because it fails to validate with all the other components in the car. Hell, even car stereos have this feature. Try swapping stereos on newer cars, and they won't work because they validate across the CAN BUS with other components like the ECU. Your power seats, seat belts, transmission, AC all use this system to some degree.

 

Another analogy: There's only an handful of companies that deal with credit card readers/terminals. Would you trust an reader that was tampered with, replaced, or fixed by an unauthorized 3rd Party? If you don't trust sketchy credit card readers, how is it ok to trust an unknown fingerprint reader that authenticates with sensitive information? Seriously, someone explain this to me. I dont get it, or is it that we all bash Apple without thinking about the possible risks, the bigger picture, the impacts that could happen?

 

So, is it ideal that you brick your phone? No. Is it a good thing: Probably. Could it have been done an bit more elegantly? Yes.

[corsairian]

This has been going on for a while. I dont necessarily agree but i see where Apple is coming from with this. 

[Yongtjunkit]

10 hours ago, Keudn said:

If you have had your iPhone 6 home button repaired by a third party, do NOT upgrade to iOS 9! Doing so will cause your phone to display Error 53, and according to Apple this is unrepairable and will require purchasing a new phone. 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair

 

According to the Guardian, 

 

The problem apparently lies in the fact that the phone checks to see if the home button is the original component, and if it isn't it locks the phone out, bricking itself.

What do you guys think? Should Apple be fixing or paying for the replacement phones that are affected by this problem?

That's the results of third parties, cheap prices = more problems. People should use only genuine products only.

[zMeul]

2 hours ago, patrickjp93 said:

It's because their hardware and software combo is superior for the vast majority of common consumer use cases. I need reliability and a no-nonsense useability because my time is extremely valuable both to me and my employers. I cannot spend the time futzing around with Android's numerous settings and skins, not to mention 80 different ROMs. I'm sorry but the Android ecosystem suffers the same thing the consumer Linux ecosystem does: fragmentation. It wastes my time. I'd rather pay $1300 total for a phone that will easily last me six years than have to pay 600 every 3 years for Android's newest replacements since updates don't come along and security is an issue for me. It is not anti-consumer. It's anti-stupid.

a phone is a phone is a phone

if you bought a smartphone to be anything else but a phone .. deal with it

 

I see a lot of people complaining that their smartphone's camera isn't "amazeballz" - what the actual fuck!? you want a DSLR, buy a fucking DSLR

a smartphone is a swiss knife that does a lot of stuff but not excelling at any - sometimes there aren't even good phones .. battery life 

[SuperfastJellyfish]

This thread is a perfect example as to why the LTT forum usersbase is made up majoritivly of the worst part of the 'tech enthusiast' group. Absolutely embarrassing.

[bcredeur97]

10 hours ago, RedRound2 said:

Wow, poor job OP as this is only half the story. First correct your title that this is only in the case of touch ID enabled home button. Second apple has acknowledged the issue and this is what they say

Source: http://9to5mac.com/2016/02/05/error-53-iphone-6/

imo this shouldnt brick the phone. It should disable TouchID functionality. But the phone should otherwise be usable. 

That would be the proper and fair way to code it.

[AndPeroty]

APPLE NEVER MORE!

[patrickjp93]

4 hours ago, spartaman64 said:

you dont have to unlock your phone and what if you want to fix it yourself

If people were smart enough to validate, this wouldn't be an issue.

 

2 hours ago, zMeul said:

a phone is a phone is a phone

if you bought a smartphone to be anything else but a phone .. deal with it

 

I see a lot of people complaining that their smartphone's camera isn't "amazeballz" - what the actual fuck!? you want a DSLR, buy a fucking DSLR

a smartphone is a swiss knife that does a lot of stuff but not excelling at any - sometimes there aren't even good phones .. battery life 

52 hours is plenty for all but the stupid.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Just putting it out there that between this (which btw fuck off isn't acceptable under any circumstance, how the fuck is a normal consumer supposed to know that a fully functional repair is going to 100% kill their phone when Apple never even mentioned this?)  and ios updates routinely making previous generation devices unusable, people actually prefer essentially forced upgrades to the android issue?

 

I'd not be surprised if the same people bitch about Windows 10 updates being in their face, where at least office 2016 doesn't require Windows 10...

 

Hypocrisy much?

[Curufinwe_wins]

Btw I'd just like to remind people that this issue can occur even if you are using first party parts, but did it on your own etc.

 

And normally all that happens is touch id becomes disabled. 

 

Now that is apparently too much of a "safety concern" for Apple so if you upgrade to ios 9 well then say goodbye to the whole device instead.

 

Gosh how could anyone be upset about that? Esp since what happens when you replace the button yourself (just loss of touch id) is the obviously correct and not idiotic solution anyways.

 

Go ahead and read the full ifixit article (they make all of the relevant points in this discussion) before defending Apple on this. 

 

http://ifixit.org/blog/7889/whats-up-with-error-53/

[ionbasa]

45 minutes ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Btw I'd just like to remind people that this issue can occur even if you are using first party parts, but did it on your own etc.

 

And normally all that happens is touch id becomes disabled. 

 

Now that is apparently too much of a "safety concern" for Apple so if you upgrade to ios 9 well then say goodbye to the whole device instead.

 

Gosh how could anyone be upset about that? Esp since what happens when you replace the button yourself (just loss of touch id) is the obviously correct and not idiotic solution anyways.

 

Go ahead and read the full ifixit article (they make all of the relevant points in this discussion) before defending Apple on this. 

 

http://ifixit.org/blog/7889/whats-up-with-error-53/

From the article:

Quote

If this only happens after “unauthorized” repairs to the phone, is Apple really just locking out replacement parts and third-party repairs?

We don’t know—and any answer we give would be completely speculative. Error 53 couldbe caused by an unforeseen bug, although if that were the case we hope they would have issued a software fix.

We dont know yet it an bricked device is the intended outcome. It could very well just be an quite drastic bug that locks up the whole phone rather than just disabling Touch ID. So, dont jump to conclusions just yet.

[Daegun]

1 hour ago, ionbasa said:

From the article:

We dont know yet it an bricked device is the intended outcome. It could very well just be an quite drastic bug that locks up the whole phone rather than just disabling Touch ID. So, dont jump to conclusions just yet.

Except a bricked device is the intended outcome:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/02/05/apple-acknowledges-error-53-glitch-says-its-part-of-touch-id-security

 

This is scummy no matter what people say, and I'm honestly shocked at the number of people defending Apple on this one. Once it's repaired by a third party, TouchID is disabled because the button isn't paired with the phone. THEN they brick your phone after an iOS update. This isn't a security measure, they already took steps by disabling TouchID and it's features.

 

And once your phone is bricked? Apple won't do anything about it because it's an unofficial repair, which means you've violated their warranty (unofficial repair in this case being any repair not done by Apple). So have fun shelling out money for a new phone.

[SImoHayha]

Oh fucking dandy apple. Great fucking job you goddamn twats. 

 

" You decided to fix your phone instead of purchasing another 600$ phone? Oh well screw you guys we don't like that. So screw yourself we'll " Fix " your phone for ya so you have to come back and purchase another phone so you can line our wallets " 

 

It's like if I bought a goddamn new door for my house and my home insurance plan is voided because I decided I wanted a new door, or replace the door.  So they're going to penalty me instead of going through them to get it fixed or replaced.

 

Who the hell does that? Apple am not going back or touching another of your products, I wouldn't be surprised they soon start bricking phones for not using 100 percent Apple products with it. 

 

[RedRound2]

11 hours ago, Nineshadow said:

You could argue it's a security feature , but in this case it really is a way to stop 3rd party repair shops.

I mean , I understand if you would change the touchID button the device would lock itself up. It's totally fine. But not being able to recover from that , at all? That's a bit ridiculous. I understand that Apple wants their phone to be really secure , but come on. There should be some way to recover from that bricked state.

 

11 hours ago, NtB said:

Yeah but all the data is permanently wiped as well. There should be a way for at least Apple themselves to recover the data because it's kind of messed up. 

 

8 hours ago, bcredeur97 said:

imo this shouldnt brick the phone. It should disable TouchID functionality. But the phone should otherwise be usable. 

That would be the proper and fair way to code it.

 

1 hour ago, Daegun said:

Except a bricked device is the intended outcome:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/16/02/05/apple-acknowledges-error-53-glitch-says-its-part-of-touch-id-security

 

This is scummy no matter what people say, and I'm honestly shocked at the number of people defending Apple on this one. Once it's repaired by a third party, TouchID is disabled because the button isn't paired with the phone. THEN they brick your phone after an iOS update. This isn't a security measure, they already took steps by disabling TouchID and it's features.

 

And once your phone is bricked? Apple won't do anything about it because it's an unofficial repair, which means you've violated their warranty (unofficial repair in this case being any repair not done by Apple). So have fun shelling out money for a new phone.

I don't think data or the phone is completely unrecoverable. Apple said to people who are affected to contact support

Again it's these reporters who are saying that the phone is bricked and unrecoverable

Quote

If a customer encounters Error 53, we encourage them to contact Apple Support."

I'm extremely surprised how biased the moderator community is here at LTT. Everytime I see those guys locking threads for stupid reasons or a minor misinformation but ignoring a misinformation about an apple article just shows the fanboy nature of most of them. Expected better from this community

[MrAngryOven]

I can understand apple's decision to do this but to brick the phone is a tad too far. I would understand if they just disabled TouchID and other security features. Or just showed a pop up message every time the phone is rebooted to say that they need to get the part replaced by an authorised individual.

Personally, I dont really like iPhones, hence why I have an LG G3 but this has put me off them completely.

[79wjd]

4 hours ago, Curufinwe_wins said:

Just putting it out there that between this (which btw fuck off isn't acceptable under any circumstance, how the fuck is a normal consumer supposed to know that a fully functional repair is going to 100% kill their phone when Apple never even mentioned this?)  and ios updates routinely making previous generation devices unusable, people actually prefer essentially forced upgrades to the android issue?

 

I'd not be surprised if the same people bitch about Windows 10 updates being in their face, where at least office 2016 doesn't require Windows 10...

 

Hypocrisy much?

You're not forced to update; it is 100% your own choice. Secondly, iOS 9 runs perfectly fine on four+ year old hardware....so I'm not sure what you're complaining about. W7 runs like ass on a machine designed for do, expecting iOS 9 to run equally smoothly on a device designed for iOS 5/6 with significantly slower hardware is naive at best and moronic at worst.

47 minutes ago, MrAngryOven said:

I can understand apple's decision to do this but to brick the phone is a tad too far. I would understand if they just disabled TouchID and other security features. Or just showed a pop up message every time the phone is rebooted to say that they need to get the part replaced by an authorised individual.

Personally, I dont really like iPhones, hence why I have an LG G3 but this has put me off them completely.

The fact that Apple specifically (and only) targets touchid repairs and nothing else (like a far more common screen repair) makes me think that there's is an underlying security issue involved that simply disabling touchid wouldn't sufficiently solve.

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, RedRound2 said:

 

 

 

I don't think data or the phone is completely unrecoverable. Apple said to people who are affected to contact support

Again it's these reporters who are saying that the phone is bricked and unrecoverable

I'm extremely surprised how biased the moderator community is here at LTT. Everytime I see those guys locking threads for stupid reasons or a minor misinformation but ignoring a misinformation about an apple article just shows the fanboy nature of most of them. Expected better from this community

"When Olmos, who says he has spent thousands of pounds on Apple products over the years, took it to an Apple store in London, staff told him there was nothing they could do, and that his phone was now junk. He had to pay £270 for a replacement and is furious."

YAY for apple's tech support and no data losses! Oh no... wait! theguardian is clearly anti-apple biased.

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/feb/05/error-53-apple-iphone-software-update-handset-worthless-third-party-repair

18 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

You're not forced to update; it is 100% your own choice. Secondly, iOS 9 runs perfectly fine on four+ year old hardware....so I'm not sure what you're complaining about. W7 runs like ass on a machine designed for do, expecting iOS 9 to run equally smoothly on a device designed for iOS 5/6 with significantly slower hardware is naive at best and moronic at worst.

The fact that Apple specifically (and only) targets touchid repairs and nothing else (like a far more common screen repair) makes me think that there's is an underlying security issue involved that simply disabling touchid wouldn't sufficiently solve.

apparently also affects screen replacements:

"

Posting a message on an Apple Support Communities forum on 31 December, “Arjunthebuster” is typical. He/she says they bought their iPhone 6 in January 2015 in Dubai, and dropped it the following month causing a small amount of damage.

They carried on using the phone, but when they tried to install iOS 9 in November “error 53” popped up. “The error hasn’t occurred because I broke my phone (it was working fine for 10 months). I lost all my data because of this error. I don’t want Apple to fix my screen or anything! I just want them to fix the ‘error 53’ so I can use my phone, but they won’t!”"

[cesrai]

Louis Rossmann made a great job and he makes amazing points. My opinion Apple is being anti-consumer and are just being dicks. WHY DOESN'T THIS HAPPEN ON 5s ?