I recently performed a test on my own iPhone to assist others with their iPhone training. The experiment was, that I triggered the "Erase Data" function on my iPhone. Inside this informative article I am about to explain to you just what happened and what you can expect.
Here is what I did. I went to (Settings > General > Passcode Lock) and turned "Erase Data" to "On". I then backed up my iPhone to iCloud as well as to iTunes. Lastly, typed an inappropriate passcode 10 times.
Alright, I really input it six times before the big red "iPhone Disabled Try again in 1 minute" appeared. When the minute went by, I tried this once more and it locked for 5 minutes. My 8th test got me a fifteen minute delay. And my ninth and 10th try equally received a sixty minute "iPhone Disabled" wait period. I had to type in a bad passcode the 11th time before it ultimately wiped out all my data.
Just a side note. I attempted to stop the lock out by means of both a soft reset along with a hard reset. Neither of the two worked. I additionally reviewed the Find My iPhone situation via iCloud and was effectively allowed to locate my iPhone. I subsequently induced the "Play Sound and Send Message" option from Find My iPhone. The music played, although no message was exhibited.
That being said, after roughly 3 hours of attempting to trip the Passcode Lock Erase Data function, I was eventually successful. My iPhone restarted to a brand new out of the box iPhone 4S. This is the place where this becomes alarming...at least to me.
I walked through the steps for setting it up. Specified my language, Country, and Location Services preference. It then took me to a "Wi-Fi Networks" display that enabled me to select a WiFi network.
On the bottom in the "Wi-Fi Networks" panel was an option to "Connect to iTunes". It went away soon after my iPhone 4s regained cell service. It then transformed to "Connect using cellular". I made a decision to connect using cellular.
I was then given three alternatives: Setup as a new iPhone, Restore from iCloud backup, or Restore from iTunes backup. I chose to handle the installation as a new iPhone. I then typed in my wife's iCloud details.
As I was afraid of, my iPhone, or what was formerly my iphone, was at this point set up and useable to someone else. I was able to make calls with it and use it just like anybody who had stolen my phone might have been able to use it.
Dreading the worst, I tried to search for it by using Find My iPhone. Just as I thought, my iPhone was no longer able to be found through my account. Though, I was able to find my phone with my wife's iCloud account.
To change my iPhone 4S back to, well, being my own again, I went to Settings > General > Reset and tapped "Erase All Content and Settings". After being asked if I was sure two times, the phone cleared and rebooted. I subsequently set up my phone and restored it from my iCloud back up.
NOTE: Should you ever sell your iDevice, make sure that you go through the procedures in the aforementioned section to wipe your iphone or ipad. You shouldn't sell your device with your own personal info on it.
Conclusion
If you ever desire the slightest possibility of finding your swiped iPhone or ripped off iPad, keep this particular setting "Off". If left off, the criminal will disable your iPhone or iPad within the same time-frames stated earlier. That means that immediately following the 9th failed attempt the crook will have to wait around sixty minutes before trying all over again. Of course, there's a chance that the thief might go through all 9,999 probable passcodes and gain access to your data. It would take some substantial patience though simply because they would need to hold out many years to get through all of them.
If your info is that confidential, then I would advise heading to Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Simple Passcode and flip that setting to "Off". This will permit you to put in place a passcode which uses letters, numbers and special characters. That can provide a lot more then your 9,999 probabilities of the simple passcode.
No comments:
Post a Comment