Cops Can Bypass iPhone Auto-Reboot to Access Locked Phones, Leaked Video Shows

A company that makes phone hacking devices claims to have developed a solution that freezes iPhones in a state that makes it easier for police to access the sensitive data they contain, according to a video obtained by 404 Media.

It’s the latest salvo in the never-ending battle between Apple and the companies that help the cops – sometimes the authoritarian country – break into iPhones.

In November 2024, 404 media revealed Apple has quietly introduced a new feature in iOS that automatically restarts an iPhone that hasn’t been unlocked for 72 hours. The idea behind this so-called “idle reboot” is to return the phone to a state that makes it more difficult for police to break into the device, and thus extract sensitive data from it using forensic technology.

At the time of Apple’s change, law enforcement officers expressed his concern about this new feature, given that they often cannot immediately try to break into seized iPhones. This could be because the police are still waiting for court permission to do so, or there is simply a backlog of devices to unlock, for example.

The new technology to bypass reboot on inactivity was developed by Magnet Forensics, the company behind GrayKey, a popular tool sold to law enforcement that allows them to unlock and access data stored in iPhones and Android smartphones. Magnet has developed a new device called GrayKey Preserve and a feature for its regular GrayKey devices called Evidence Preservation Mode, according to the video.