Apple Pulls Ability to Restore iPhone 5c, iPad Mini, and More [Updated]

[tonmischa]

Update 12:24 pm: Baseband signing for all devices has now been restored.

So, what does that mean?
Everything is back to normal and you can restore everything like you could a week ago?
Is the article now moot?

 

[BigBlur]

So, what does that mean?
Everything is back to normal and you can restore everything like you could a week ago?
Is the article now moot?

Yes and yes. The article should just be taken down…or at least retitled to make it clear that signing has been restored.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The fact that they will not let you download an image to your laptop or desktop and use that to restore one of these deices is almost criminal. What motive do they have for this apart from downright greed. This is deliberate bricking of a device you own. Imagine if the car companies did the same thing and after some indeterminate amount of time the car would be bricked. This is utter nonsense. I have older phones that still function today.

Thank you.
This is the correct and sensible take here.

I'm blown away folks are talking themselves into defending Apple on any of this.

 

[platinumaqua]

Allow and enable people to keep using it WiFi only.

Old iPhones can still be used as iPods!

 

[whitby]

The fact that they will not let you download an image to your laptop or desktop and use that to restore one of these deices is almost criminal. What motive do they have for this apart from downright greed. This is deliberate bricking of a device you own. Imagine if the car companies did the same thing and after some indeterminate amount of time the car would be bricked. This is utter nonsense. I have older phones that still function today.

Just an update as many of you will have discovered, Apple either discovered this was by accident or that this was not a good idea and now allow updates for the devices cited.

I am relieved. I hope it was by mistake and not a deliberate act as that would imply that Apple have lost their way. Without any evidence to the contrary I will choose to believe that this was an accident, but it does not bode well for quality control if they make this sort of mistake. If it was deliberate then that is another story entirely.

 

[AriaAmaris]

You don'town it then. Ridiculous.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Yeah this is kind of a long term backfire for Apple. It helps that they fixed it, but the fact that they even have the capability on devices that old makes me look at my current Apple devices and think a little. Everyone really is trying to make this a rental situation rather than a buy situation.

Not good.

 

[erikkfi]

I didn't realize Apple had the ability to issue Carrier updates? Weird! I wonder how you found this out?

Crazy how the headline says "Apple pulls ability" but you've determined that it was actually the carriers. And how the update to the article says that "Apple has fixed the baseband signing issue" but somehow, again, you know that it was the carriers that did it!

 

[gank41]

Crazy how the headline says "Apple pulls ability" but you've determined that it was actually the carriers. And how the update to the article says that "Apple has fixed the baseband signing issue" but somehow, again, you know that it was the carriers that did it!

You've also still determined that Apple is the one that "fixed" this.. It's entirely possible that they were unsigned due to a carrier issue, and then were. Or not! Who knows. And it is actually the Cell Carrier that updates the Baseband Modem, not Apple. That's what's used to connect to the Cell Towers, and is updated independently of an iOS update. You just tap on the carrier firmware build in settings, and if there's a Carrier Update, it'll tell you.