A new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhonesA new iOS 18 security feature makes it harder for police to unlock iPhones / Apple added an inactivity timer that reboots iPhones to a more secure state when they havent been unlocked in a while.By Wes Davis, a weekend editor who covers the latest in tech and entertainment. He has written news, reviews, and more as a tech journalist since 2020. Nov 9, 2024, 4:49 PM UTCShare this story Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty ImagesThere is an apparently new iOS 18 security feature that reboots iPhones that havent been unlocked in a few days, frustrating police by making it harder to break into suspects iPhones, according to 404 Media. 404 Media, which first reported police warnings about the reboots on Thursday, writes that restarted iPhones enter a more secure Before First Unlock, or BFU state. Now, it seems Apple added inactivity reboot code in iOS 18.1 that triggers iPhones to restart after theyve been locked for four days, Chris Wade, who founded mobile analysis company Corellium, told the outlet.The code appears below in screenshots posted by Dr. -Ing. Jiska Classen, a Hasso Plattner Institute research group leader.Both iOS and Android devices enter this BFU state when theyre restarted, requiring you to enter your passcode (or PIN) to unlock your phone, limiting what sort of data forensics experts can extract, according to a blog post from Dakota State Universitys digital forensics lab. Apple didnt immediately respond to The Verges request for comment. The company has steadily made iPhones harder to compromise over the years, putting it at odds with law enforcement and raising the specter of government regulations requiring encryption backdoors. Apple has repeatedly resisted authorities requests to create backdoors, although that hasnt stopped law enforcement from finding its own workarounds.Most PopularMost Popular