Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Gforce809

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2012
3
0
A few days ago my new iPhone 5 arrived, so I handed down my 4S to my fiancé (she originally had a 4). Before the switch I completely erased everything, put in her SIMM card, and restored it from her iCloud backup. Two days later, she downloaded the ESPN Scorecenter App for the first time, from her iTunes account, and upon launching it, to my surprise, it signed in under my username and password, and had all my team alerts and settings ready to go.

I vaguely remember a year or two ago after turning in my 4 to the Apple Store for replacement under warranty, not long after that my team alerts on the ESPN App just constantly started disappearing until I finally changed the password (my guess is they sold it as a refurbished phone). And again, everything on the phone was completely erased before it left my hands.

Has anyone else ever experienced that with this app or any other app and know why it might be happening? I am planning to sell the old 4 on eBay this week, and it concerns me that some random person could buy it and install an app that was previously on there and pull up my or my fiancé's accounts.
 
Last edited:

BlueKhufu

macrumors regular
Nov 27, 2010
188
31
When you erase all content and settings on the 4s (all iPhones from 3GS on up) it removes the encryption key that protects data, so there really isn't any way that info is being recovered from the phone itself ( http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2110 ). What is likely happening is ESPN ScoreCenter is using the UDID to auto setup the app for you. It's really a pretty ridiculous way to program an app and is likely one of the reasons apple is telling developers to stop using UDID for authentication.
I just checked a bit and while certainly not proof that this is the case, Scorecenter is mentioned by someone in this post ( https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php//t-1019820.html ) discussing the use of UDID to auto-plug usernames and passwords. I'm really surprised a developer would do this (okay, not REALLY surprised).
 

Gforce809

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2012
3
0
I suspect it is the UDID, and here is further proof. I powered up the iPhone 4 my fiancé has been using since October 2011 until last week, the same one I had used from February 2011 to October 2011, and when I downloaded the ESPN Scorecenter app to that phone and launched it, it logged in as me - same exact thing that happened on the 4S. It had been over 1 year since I had used that phone and the app had been on there, and yet it still logged in as me.

I am going back and reinstalling every possible app that I ever could have possibly used on that phone to see if any others do this, and if I find any I will post them to this thread. I'm also going to try to notify Apple that this App has a major security flaw, although it is not inherently obvious on how to report something like that.
 

Gforce809

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 5, 2012
3
0
Logging out does work, and so does changing the password, but that's not the point. The point is, the App should not be automatically logging me back in after the phone has been wiped clean and is either set up as a new device or restored with another persons backup - both of which have happened. This is why I suspect the ESPN App is linking my current and previous iPhone's UDID with my ESPN account's automatic login credentials.
 

orangebluedevil

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2010
323
17
Maybe you could just...log out?
Crazy idea I know, but just might work.

So when you sell your iPhone, you are going to log out of 100's of apps then wipe it? Remember, you don't know which ones store your UDID and which don't. This is definitely a problem, albeit very small.
 

Leonard1818

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2011
2,460
403
I've always been hesitant to try to sell an iPhone. We'll have a spare one next year (my old 4s) and I think I'll just keep it around rather than sell.
 

pnoyblazed

macrumors 6502a
Mar 1, 2008
986
403
I've always been hesitant to try to sell an iPhone. We'll have a spare one next year (my old 4s) and I think I'll just keep it around rather than sell.

the OP said he gave it to his fiance, but I guess I knew what you meant
 

Leonard1818

macrumors 68020
Nov 15, 2011
2,460
403
the OP said he gave it to his fiance, but I guess I knew what you meant

yeah, sorry... got me thinking about what is done with old iPhones... I gave my 4s to my wife but next year she'll either get a new one or I will and the 4s will be "extra". I'd like to sell it but I'll prob. just keep it for a spare.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.