iOS 17.5 Includes 'Repair State' Option That Doesn't Require Turning Off Find My for Service

[Robert.Walter]

Hi Juli:

“…appears to be limited to the ‌iPhone‌. Using it on other devices like an ‌iPhone‌, Mac, or Apple Watch…”

iPhone vs iPhone?

 

[TMRJIJ]

As a former Mac Genius (left 10 years ago), this was a considerable hassle even back then... and I assume is a larger one today. Good stuff.

Yes, it still is a hassle today. Most people don't know how to turn off Find My. Sometimes, the server still thinks it's on even after turning it off.

Hoping this means that they will also stop asking users for passwords so they can test the repair was successful. Users should never have to disclose a password to support personnel.

Not sure what your Apple Store is doing but at the AASP I worked at and my local Apple Stores, we have strict rules against asking for a user's password or accessing data. If anything requires a user password, the user MUST be there with us to put it in. Otherwise, we try to set up a test account.

 

[TMRJIJ]

For the MacBooks way back when... Flextronics in Memphis and Computer Technology Solutions in Houston.

This is still the case now

Now I guess we all get to find out the super secret locations where Apple repairs things.

It's not so much a secret. It's only because customers try to contact or go to those locations which could potentially interrupt the repair processes of hundreds of thousands of devices across several brands, not just Apple.

 

[TokyoKiller]

This may help stop all those stolen iPhones that are submitted as part of the trade-in process.

Huh? You can’t trade in devices at Apple w/o FMI disabled.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

For the MacBooks way back when... Flextronics in Memphis and Computer Technology Solutions in Houston.

Pegatron in Louisville.

Dunno if they're still using that one, but they definitely used to do mail-in repairs there.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Hoping this means that they will also stop asking users for passwords so they can test the repair was successful. Users should never have to disclose a password to support personnel.

I mean, you don't have to - if you don't care about your data.

3rd party repair will absolutely need that password if you want your data back, and data recovery is a huge part of what 3rd party repair does.

Apple doesn't care about your data, the computer will come back wiped. Hope you had a backup.

(The feds would always bring machines in without hard drives, which was no problem. And anybody was welcome to do that, we could toss in a temporary drive for testing. But most of the time users wanted their data taken care of, and that's a lot more possible to do if we've got the password.)

 

[match14]

Should you not wipe the data off your iPhone first before sending it in for repair anyway?

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Should you not wipe the data off your iPhone first before sending it in for repair anyway?

That depends.

Is the reason you need a repair "I need my data recovered"? Then wiping it would be a bit counterproductive, no?

 

[Blackstick]

Would you say that Apple's staff, especially those in retail stores, are much less "genius" than before? Like 5-10 years ago? That has been my experience. I have talked to some in store that sounded like they were hired off the street that same morning, with almost no training and familiarity with the products, services, settings and features. They knew even less than me and kept trying to sell me stuff while describing the products and services quite incompetently.

I would say that, yes. Today these Genii learn on PDFs on a web portal in the back of house or break rooms or GR. They don't get hands on with Apple devices until they're actually working on the customer's actual product. Not the ideal way to learn and make mistakes when you're on the hook to replace a production device.

"Back in my day", we spent 3 weeks in Cupertino learning the ins and outs of every product Apple sold at the time, with AppleCare trainers watching us closely in small classes of 6 or 8 technicians. It was very intimate and you hung out at the hotel or in San Jose/SF with the guys, pretty much every waking hour you weren't asleep or in class. Kind of like a military experience, incredibly immersive stuff -- only nerdier. If you weren't an Apple fanboy, the exams at the end were not easy and people did fail them and come back without certification.

I have fond memories of Woz once coming by the retail training lab (it was on Bubb road) for lunch and taking us to get hamburgers in his Hummer (he bought extra hamburgers for his dogs), and also running into Steve Jobs taking a muffin at Caffe Macs (without paying of course) with Jony by his side. Those days are long gone. Apple has grown too large to accommodate that style of training. I joined that Genius team in 2007 with 4 people on the staff plus an admin. By the time I left in 2014 there were 27 Geniuses and 3 admins. They still trained Geniuses in off-site facilities like Atlanta and Austin when I left Apple, but fast forward to now -- it's been in-store only since Angela Ahrendts. I think Cupertino training ended completely by 2009-2010.

 

[LlamaLarry]

Interesting, now to decide if I should try this tomorrow at the Apple Store for my battery replacement, or go ahead and do the normal process at home so it doesn't have that hour wait BS in case the techs have no idea what I am talking about.

ETA: For fun I tried turning off Stolen Device Protection from home and it still says it will be an hour wait first since I am not at a familiar location - while at my home the iPhone 12PM has lived at since launch.

 

[Fofer]

This is already not a thing; employees don’t gather passwords.

But some gather photos?

An Apple store employee ‘helped’ a customer — by texting himself an intimate photo from her phone

In a statement, Apple said the employee was "no longer associated with our company."

www.washingtonpost.com

Regardless, the last time I dropped off my MacBook Pro for battery replacement (this was late 2023,) the Genius at the Bar absolutely asked for my Mac's password. Said it was necessary so they could test things. Instead, I gave him the password for a new, blank user account named "Temp," which I'd created just for him.

 

[Godspeed8230]

Hoping this means that they will also stop asking users for passwords so they can test the repair was successful. Users should never have to disclose a password to support personnel.

When I brought in my iPhone for a battery replacement they wanted my password. There is absolutely no need for a password when replacing a battery so I did not give it to them. Turning off Find My was risky enough.
I am guessing that a lot of leaked private data or photos come from this.

 

[memco]

This is already not a thing; employees don’t gather passwords.

I took a phone in for a battery replacement one month ago. The Apple Store employee told me they needed it but did not bring it up again after we had disabled find my. This happened at a different store in another state two years ago except that time they kept insisting they couldn’t test without the password and I was risking extra long repair service by having to come back and do it. I have also heard that a store employee told a family member to disable FileVault for some reason.

Maybe this isn’t officially a thing but Apple employees at 3 different stores in 3 different states somehow have similar ideas about compromising various security features to make their jobs easier so it’s coming from somewhere.