This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this folio. Terms of employ.

iPhone malware

Final week, nosotros covered Apple's Error 53 message, and how it bricks iPhones, sometimes more than than a year after the devices were repaired. At the time, it looked as though a majority of the failures were caused by these third-party repairs, though there were signs that not all of them were.

The folks at iFixit take published an in-depth report on the trouble that sheds additional light on what'due south causing the result and what, if anything, consumers tin do about it. The problem isn't directly acquired by third-party repairs as such, but by replacing the home push button or the associated cable.

error-53

The Bear on ID sensor. Image by iFixit

The trouble is linked to the Bear upon ID system. Apple states:

If your iOS device has Touch ID, iOS checks that the Touch ID sensor matches your device'south other components during an update or restore. This check keeps your device and the iOS features related to Touch on ID secure.

When iOS finds an unidentified or unexpected Touch ID module, the cheque fails. For example, an unauthorized or faulty screen replacement could cause the check to fail.

There are withal a number of things we don't know about Error 53. Apple defends this as a security measure out, but the company has yet to present an caption for why a previously undisclosed security mensurate can permanently brick devices. There are certainly alternatives for svelte fallback — the phone could refuse to enable fingerprint sensors or Apple Pay, for example.

The security measure argument truly doesn't hold water if you consider the circumstances of the failures. Many business laptops implement a Trusted Platform Module to secure local information. If you have the hard drive out of a TPM-enabled laptop and plug it into a different system, information technology won't boot and you won't be able to read data off the drive. The security measures that safeguard the laptop kick in immediately, not the side by side time you connect to the Internet or try to log into Windows.

Apple claims that Mistake 53 is designed to secure its systems, yet many users have encountered this problem months after they had their devices repaired by 3rd parties. Any 18-carat security mechanism would kicking in the kickoff time they rebooted the device, not the first time they upgraded to iOS 9.

iFixit also reports that Error 53 tin occur even if you swap parts from a make-new iPhone into another iPhone. The issue, in other words, isn't that the end-user has used unauthorized hardware, but that Apple has designed its own pairing machinery designed to defeat third-party installations.

Can annihilation exist done to fix Error 53?

Non much. Some devices accept been known to neglect and display an Fault 53 fifty-fifty if the end-user hasn't taken them to a third political party. In these cases, y'all're stuck paying any Apple tree wants to fix the device or simply ownership another phone.

If yous get your telephone repaired by a 3rd party, you'll need to tell them to utilize the original home button, cable, and Affect ID sensor. Some Apple stores might assist with a replacement if the device is within warranty, but past that, there'southward zilch to be done. iFixit has still to determine a solution and Apple isn't talking nearly the problem.