Apple Will Fix 'January 1, 1970' Date Bug in Upcoming iOS Update

[mdriftmeyer]

Define 0.

Now, what is 00:00:00 in hours, minutes and seconds?

You're back to defining 0. In terms of Calculus it is the barrier of limits where continuity breaks down, approaching from the left and right of the equation, especially when dealing with the ration of the Theory of Limits, being a quotient.

When dealing with 1/x as x approaches 0, the limit reaches infinity. Computers don't rationalize Real or Complex Numbers by modeling the Epsilon Delta Proof in terms of bits. It has no abstract reasoning to deduce the answer, thus it wants to keep solving the problem recursively until it core dumps.

The solution is to control the range and domain of the limit and not include 0 as the undefined indivisibilty of even the simple equation of 1/x. Just approximate it, based upon the range of system's memory support, in terms of bits.

 

[blodyholy]

Since this has been determined to be a Unix issue, out of curiosity, what, if anything happens when do this on a Mac?

 

[American Hero]

Cook should fire Forstall again. That worked so well with Maps.

Forstall was fired because he was too arrogant to apologize for maps.

Something tells me he'll be back after Tim Cook gets axed--which I think will be sooner than people think. The shareholders are probably not too happy with him as we speak.

 

[TMRJIJ]

"Jimmy, make sure you optimize the kernel so that way it doesn't crash and brick iOS when a user simply changes the date back!"

"Jimmy, find out the reason why this user would set the date back exact forty-six years ago where our company didn't even exist. Lol"

 

[GoodWheaties]

Why are we all assuming that people are doing this to their own phones? There may be some that have tried it but what is more likely is people doing this to someone else's phone, which is more than enough reason to get this fixed.

 

[Col4bin]

why would anyone set their phone to the wrong date?

You wouldn't but perhaps a techy jilted lover or nerdy bully would do this to your phone…? Don't laugh, they're out there.

 

[mazz0]

I've done it before for testing/troubleshooting other issues. But never to 1970.

I find it funny that we continue to have such large issues related to something that seems as benign as the date/time of a computer. I think back to all of the hullabaloo around Y2K. Just curious and a little amusing to me.

I dunno, given the amorphous nature of space-time I think it's impressive that we have a mechanism that handles measurements of time as consistently as it does.

 

[ziggie216]

Why would anyone set their date so far back?

Same reason why anyone would try to see how far forward they can set the date to, curiosity.

 

[Heltik]

"If you reverse your car off a cliff it will break it"
Vroom CRASH!!!
"Boohoo, I HATE YOU HENRY FORD!!"

 

[\-V-/]

"Don't do this it will screw up your phone."

*does it, screws up phone*

"I demand a fix!"

 

[JimmyHook]

My brother changed mine. iPad is absolutely screwed. I can't run it down because the batteries too big. I can't take it apart because according to ifixit it's one of the most difficult iOS devices to disassemble (iPad Air) and Apple said they wanted £75 to give me a new battery! I didn't want a new battery I just wanted them to fix my iPad but that was all they offered

Just let the battery fully discharge. It will fix it

 

[sdf]

You mean like any other software that's out today? Constantly looking for and patching bugs? For what iOS is and does, I would have expected a lot more bugs than it has. I am honestly ok and impressed with the minor few that are found.

This time thing to me, isn't really a bug. Anyone who sets their time/date to 1970 on purpose, deserves whatever they get. Especially knowing full well what it does.

First, I don't think Apple's software quality is slipping. That's a nice narrative, but it ignores how very bad Apple's updates have been historically. I hope you didn't want to boot up, because a particular system software update in the 1990s removed critical files. I hope you didn't want WiFi, because an update in the early 2000s disabled that. Shred your drive? Why not. Also early 2000s. Etc, etc.

But that said, this is absolutely a bug. Seeing how iOS handles extreme date times should be on a checklist at Apple, and whatever iOS does should be recoverable. And you can bet that now it is.

 

[JimmyHook]

Why are we all assuming that people are doing this to their own phones? There may be some that have tried it but what is more likely is people doing this to someone else's phone, which is more than enough reason to get this fixed.

64 bit phones have Touch ID. How are they getting in? No, it's self inflicted unless you are dumb enough to hand an idiot your phone after you unlock it
[doublepost=1455558280][/doublepost]If you do this, for whatever dumb reason, there is one easy fix. Let the battery fully discharge.

 

[sdf]

Well that date, Thursday the 1st of January 1970 is the Unix Epoc; the start of unix time calculation.
But I don't understand while setting this date for iOS (a Unix derivative) causes the device to lockup?

It probably is trying to find the Sunday or Monday immediately before that date or some such, then iterates through the dates between. Or something like that. It's not hard to imagine something going wrong, and it'll probably be a simple fix.

 

[pat500000]

I knew it.... Not only that apple is incapable to fix bugs right away...they don't even know what date it is..

 

[JimmyHook]

Are you saying there's not a problem with iOS being bugged filled lately?

Every OS has a ton of bugs. That's what happens when an OS has millions of lines of code. Every version of iOS, Android, Windows, UNIX, Linux, etc has approximately the same percentage of bugs natively. Windows and Android have higher potentials for bugs due to additional OEM modifications

 

[GoodWheaties]

64 bit phones have Touch ID. How are they getting in? No, it's self inflicted unless you are dumb enough to hand an idiot your phone after you unlock it
[doublepost=1455558280][/doublepost]If you do this, for whatever dumb reason, there is one easy fix. Let the battery fully discharge.

I happen to know the password to other people's phones. TouchID is not required. Also, there are devices without TouchID.

 

[ziggie216]

You're joking, right? It's a UNIX issue. Other UNIX based OSs would have had this exact bug at some point. Though it was just now discovered in this current version of iOS, they probably had this issue for a while.

Some people just love to start a witch hunt at every opportunity

 

[sudo1996]

Apple should prevent idiots from doing idiotic things with their hardware?
What possible reason is there to set any clock back that far?

It's never acceptable for a programmer to blame the user. If the user (or another programmer through your API) interacts with your code in a way you allow and causes your code to behave unexpectedly, you're at fault. Always expect the full domain of your program's input to be tested.

Edit: Typically, bad input checking also contributes to making the system less secure. BulkSlash later mentioned that someone could spoof an NTP server and make your iPhone set its time to 0. So it's a security vulnerability too. Someone could make an iPhone-killing wifi network. https://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/458ao3/discussion_changing_time_date_settings_to_jan_1/
[doublepost=1455559012][/doublepost]

You're joking, right? It's a UNIX issue. Other UNIX based OSs would have had this exact bug at some point. Though it was just now discovered in this current version of iOS, they probably had this issue for a while.

No, we don't know what other Unix systems are affected.

 

[H2SO4]

Time doesn't need warnings before changing. You have to be completely OCD to set the date and time exactly like this and unknowingly experience this bug.
There is no reason why anyone would change this setting in a way that this bug would occur.

Straight away. Fail again.
There obviously is a reason however asinine/mundane as it’s been done.

Apple have a bug in the system how on earth is this the users fault? I’m thinking the word bug has different meaning to you and I.
Ok so. Car manufacturer has a design fault when the car reaches 110mph. Suggesting that the legal speed limit is 70 so the driver has no case makes zero difference. The. Fault. Lies. With. The. Manufacturer.

 

[Makale.Helvetia]

so we can say it'll be patched on ''9.3'' update. i don't expect a 9.2.2 release, 9.3 is 3-4 weeks away.

 

[aaronvan]

This is worse than Y2K!

Grab the kids and head for the bunker, Maw!

 

[sudo1996]

No. HELL no. You did this to your phone by your own volition. You knew from the beginning that it would brick your iPhone but you went ahead and did it anyway. This is totally on the ignorant, stupid users who went and did it just to see what would happen. It would be the same truth if this had been an Android phone. Stupid is as stupid does.

Couldn't someone do it by accident? You flick the date slider wrongly and OOPS, it's 1970. Why are you complaining about users being idiotic? Isn't Apple idiotic for even letting you set the date back that far?
[doublepost=1455559325][/doublepost]

My brother changed mine. iPad is absolutely screwed. I can't run it down because the batteries too big. I can't take it apart because according to ifixit it's one of the most difficult iOS devices to disassemble (iPad Air) and Apple said they wanted £75 to give me a new battery! I didn't want a new battery I just wanted them to fix my iPad but that was all they offered

I'm sure the battery won't last more than a day on an infinite boot cycle.

 

[citysnaps]

I knew it.... Not only that apple is incapable to fix bugs right away...they don't even know what date it is..

Wrong. Under Settings > Date & Time, simply set "Set Automatically" to On.

With respect to fixing the bug, it has been acknowledged and will be pushed out soon in an update. So when you say "incapable," what are you talking about?

 

[SusanK]

Forstall was fired because he was too arrogant to apologize for maps.

Something tells me he'll be back after Tim Cook gets axed--which I think will be sooner than people think. The shareholders are probably not too happy with him as we speak.

I think Maps was a bullet for the gun. Cook made the decision to go live with an app that was not ready. We really don't know what happened. It's possible that Forstall advised Cook and was disregarded. The ongoing buggy software makes me think it was not Forstall. Cook is not shy about serving buggy software.

I really don't trust Cook. I have a much higher opinion of Forstall. I am a shareholder so obviously not pleased with Cook's performance.

I'm more unhappy from the end user standpoint. I loved Apple products pre-Cook. Now my purchases are much less frequent. A significant part of my buying decision is will it be fun or another headache? Before Cook was CEO my budget was the only limiting factor when contemplating a purchase.

I did buy and use Apple products (and shares) when Steve was not at Apple so I would appreciate if the "because he's not Steve" crowd would hold their fire. Thanks.