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bookemdano

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2011
1,514
846
Many of us probably remember the flurry of media posts early this month about the USB Restricted Mode Apple supposedly inserted into one of the betas of 11.4 in part to disable the GrayKey devices.

I was surprised to find this article yesterday (posted two weeks ago): https://gizmodo.com/it-looks-like-apples-tool-that-stops-cops-from-hacking-1826017460 which raises the possibility that that whole thing was FUD spread by Elcomsoft and that the feature may never have actually been in the 11.4 betas.

So now that 11.4 is out, does anyone know if this "feature" is actually included? It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the release notes, and I can't find a KB article or anything official about it. A few of the "iOS 11.4 is released" articles I've found have mentioned it, but I could easily see them just rounding up all the features mentioned during the beta rather than independently confirming that they are there.

If it is indeed present, are there any definitive ways to opt out of it? I have a dedicated iPad I have hidden in my car connected by USB to my head unit so I can play my music library in the car and it would be a real PITA to have to dig it out and put in my passcode every week. And no, I don't want to remove the passcode on it because I want to maintain the ability to wipe it if it gets stolen (it's a cellular model).

Until we know more I'm just going to leave it at 11.3.1.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
Many of us probably remember the flurry of media posts early this month about the USB Restricted Mode Apple supposedly inserted into one of the betas of 11.4 in part to disable the GrayKey devices.

I was surprised to find this article yesterday (posted two weeks ago): https://gizmodo.com/it-looks-like-apples-tool-that-stops-cops-from-hacking-1826017460 which raises the possibility that that whole thing was FUD spread by Elcomsoft and that the feature may never have actually been in the 11.4 betas.

So now that 11.4 is out, does anyone know if this "feature" is actually included? It wasn't mentioned anywhere in the release notes, and I can't find a KB article or anything official about it. A few of the "iOS 11.4 is released" articles I've found have mentioned it, but I could easily see them just rounding up all the features mentioned during the beta rather than independently confirming that they are there.

If it is indeed present, are there any definitive ways to opt out of it? I have a dedicated iPad I have hidden in my car connected by USB to my head unit so I can play my music library in the car and it would be a real PITA to have to dig it out and put in my passcode every week. And no, I don't want to remove the passcode on it because I want to maintain the ability to wipe it if it gets stolen (it's a cellular model).

Until we know more I'm just going to leave it at 11.3.1.
iOS 11.4 USB lockout?
 

bookemdano

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 29, 2011
1,514
846

Thanks, I should have searched before posting. If a mod wants to merge the threads, that would be great.

However, my point still stands. We don't actually know if this "feature" was included or not, and an article from a legitimate site is calling into question whether it was ever there in the first place.

I'm asking if anyone knows for certain that it's there rather than going off the Elcomsoft article from early May.
 
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