iOS 4.1 Bug Allows Access to iPhone Contacts and Voicemails Despite Passcode Protection
An iOS 4.1 bug discovered in our forums late last week has been gaining significant attention for its ability to allow users to bypass the built-in passcode protection on the iPhone to view contacts, call histories, and voicemail. While the bug does not permit full access to the iPhone's functions, as the home and lock buttons remain mostly non-functional, users have also reported being able to activate music functions and voice control while in this mode.
The passcode bypass is performed by attempting to place an Emergency Call to a non-emergency number (such as "###") and quickly hitting the lock button on the top of the iPhone after placing the call. The iPhone immediately opens up to the Phone application, offering full access to contacts and other phone-related information.
It is unclear whether the issue exists in developer builds of iOS 4.2 currently being distributed by Apple, as some users have reported that they have been able to replicate it under iOS 4.2 while others claim that they can not. Complicating the assessment is a lack of information from these sources regarding which builds of iOS 4.2 they are running.
Update: Wired received a statement from an Apple spokeswoman, who noted that the bug will be fixed in iOS 4.2 next month.
An Apple spokeswoman contacted Wired.com with a response regarding the security flaw: "We're aware of this issue and we will deliver a fix to customers as part of the iOS 4.2 software update in November."
Popular Stories
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
There are widespread reports of Apple users being locked out of their Apple ID overnight for no apparent reason, requiring a password reset before they can log in again. Users say the sudden inexplicable Apple ID sign-out is occurring across multiple devices. When they attempt to sign in again they are locked out of their account and asked to reset their password in order to regain access. ...
Apple used to regularly increase the base memory of its Macs up until 2011, the same year Tim Cook was appointed CEO, charts posted on Mastodon by David Schaub show. Earlier this year, Schaub generated two charts: One showing the base memory capacities of Apple's all-in-one Macs from 1984 onwards, and a second depicting Apple's consumer laptop base RAM from 1999 onwards. Both charts were...
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the announcement of Apple's upcoming "Let loose" event, where the company is widely expected to announce new iPad models and accessories. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's event invite shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Apple CEO Tim...
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman outlined some of the new products he expects Apple to announce at its "Let Loose" event on May 7. First, Gurman now believes there is a "strong possibility" that the upcoming iPad Pro models will be equipped with Apple's next-generation M4 chip, rather than the M3 chip that debuted in the MacBook Pro and iMac six months ago. He said a ...
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...